Rabbi Brad HirschfieldRabbi Brad Hirschfield

Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.   An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University.  Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations. Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know."

VIDEO: Are “Religious Freedom Laws” Actually Hate Laws?

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A number of states in the U.S., most recently North Carolina and Mississippi, have passed laws that protect religious freedom. But what are the motives behind these laws? According to Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, true religious freedom comes only when all religions are protected, and that means protecting your own interests, but also the interests of others.

VIDEO: Moving Forward After Brussels

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Monday’s attacks in Brussels left at least 31 dead and hundreds wounded. The rhetoric from politicians and presidential candidates, some fanning the flames of Islamophobia and some addressing only the law enforcement and intelligence aspect of the issue, seem to miss the point.

If we are to fight a war against violent extremism, we must do so in a way “that does not allow us to be dragged down into the wholesale hatred that our enemies practice.”

WATCH: In this Election Season, Words Matter

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In this week’s Faith On the Record, Brad highlights the verbal inflation that has occurred in the media, where the Black Lives Matters movement has been held up as equal to the Ku Klux Klan and Erin Andrews’s stalker has been labeled a terrorist.

“Words matter,” he reminds us, “According to Scripture, the world is called into being with words and I hope as we enter an election season that gets crazier and crazier, that we can resist the temptation towards this kind of verbal inflation.”

VIDEO: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Her “Best Buddy” Antonin Scalia

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After the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield reflects on the close friendship of Scalia and his fellow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They sat at different ends of the ideological spectrum, but their friendship shows how important it is to able to “see the rich potential in at least some things about which we may never agree, but can surely learn.”

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