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Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch: Unhinged, Obsessive Loathing of Israel Is Corrupting American Values
(Times of Israel) Luke Tress - Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a leading voice in the U.S. Reform community, in his Yom Kippur sermon on Monday warned that hatred of Israel was corrupting the U.S. Hirsch is senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan. "To be a Jew is to be part of a nation that others seek to harm. While pervasive anti-Jewish hostility is not new, it is new to us. We grew up in what has been described as the 'Golden Age' of American Jewry. It is this clear and obvious change that has so unnerved us." "Jew-hatred is harming America. We are not only worried about ourselves. We are worried about the country we love. Unhinged and obsessive loathing of Israel is corrupting American values. If allowed to spread, it is not only Jews who will pay the price. America will too." "We should continue to support causes that promote the general welfare of all Americans. But before you donate your time or financial resources, inquire, research and ask these agencies what are their views of Jews, Israel and October 7." He called on younger Jews to assert themselves "on the field of ideas and values. You have the opportunity to be a great generation. Challenging times bring out strengths we never knew we had. Be heroic. Join the struggle. Do not sit it out. That is as good a definition of a hero as anything - a person who, when needed, cannot sit it out." In an interview, Hirsch said that Israel is an American ally, part of the Western world and "confronting forces that seek to destroy the West. Israel is fighting the civilizational struggle of those who seek to break down Western civilization. Obsessive hatred and unhinged hatred - it's opposed to reason and pluralism, which form the heart of Western civilization."