Hendricks Chapel hosts ‘Celebrating Unity Without Uniformity: An Open Conversation with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield’ on April 21

Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel will host “Celebrating Unity Without Uniformity: An Open Conversation with Rabbi Brad Hirschfield,” on Wednesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in the chapel’s Noble Room.

The event is sponsored by Hendricks Chapel, Hillel at Syracuse University and InterFaith Works, and is free and open to the public. Hirschfield will frame the conversation with introductory words and then open the question, “Is now a good time, or a bad time, for faith in America?” for discussion among the participants.

Hirschfield will give another talk, “Taking God Public: A Rabbi Blogs to the World about Good, Evil, and Much More,” at 12:45 p.m. in Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. The event is sponsored by the Religion and Society Program in The College of Arts and Sciences. For information, call (315) 443-5723.

Hirschfield has been listed in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” for three consecutive years and has been recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers & Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com.

A think tank president, talk show host, interfaith activist and diversity expert, Hirschfield is the author of “You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism” (Harmony, 2008). A popular media guest, he has appeared on CNN, PBS, MTV and NPR, among others, and was featured on PBS’ “Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero” and the acclaimed documentary “Freaks Like Me.” He writes a column, “For God’s Sake,” for Newsweek and WashingtonPost.com’s “On Faith.” His blog, “Windows & Doors,” appears on Beliefnet.com (the net’s largest site for spirituality and inspiration) and was featured on the homepage of Digg.com.

Hirschfield is the president of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a leadership training institute, think tank and resource center committed to religious pluralism and the healthier use of religion in American public life. He has inspired audiences from the Aspen Institute and the Washington National Cathedral to the Islamic Society of North America and many leading universities and religious institutions. A featured speaker at Parliament of the World’s Religions in both Barcelona and Melbourne, he was recently invited by the governments of the United States and the Republic of Indonesia to speak at the Jakarta Interfaith Dialogue.

Hirschfield is the editor of “Remember for Life: Holocaust Survivors’ Stories of Faith and Hope” (The Jewish Publication Society, 2007). He is a co-author of “Embracing Life & Facing Death: A Jewish Guide to Palliative Care” (CLAL, 2003). An Orthodox rabbi, he received his M.A. and M. Phil from the Jewish Theological Seminary and his B.A. from the University of Chicago.