You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right

Finding Faith Without Fanaticism

by Brad Hirschfield

How can we create a world with less violence and division? Can we make room for other cultures and beliefs without negating our own? Is there a way to balance commitment and openness without sacrificing one to the other?

These and other critical questions are explored in a powerful new book, You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield (Harmony, January 2008). Addressing some of the key issues of our time, the book reveals how to be passionately committed to one's faith community while remaining open to other religious traditions. Drawing on his own experience as a former activist on the West Bank who saw first-hand what extremism can do, Rabbi Hirschfield examines our fears of the "other" with humor, insight, honesty, and thoughtfulness. Never dismissing another's beliefs or treating difference as a zero sum game, he appeals to the common wisdom found in all religions, offering hope and a new perspective to the American spiritual, social and political landscape.

Grappling with his own conflicts — as an Orthodox teenager growing up in a non-religious home, leading a prayer service at the Reichstag for Jews and non-Jews alike, going to Moscow as the only rabbi participant in a Muslim sponsored initiative, and many more — Rabbi Hirschfield presents diversity and inclusiveness in a new light. Using personal stories, Biblical texts, and other references, he asks us to stretch, leaving our preconceived notions and convictions at the door to make room for new foundations. With so much divisiveness in the world, You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right offers a concrete and accessible approach for mending fences among people.