Our Team

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 & Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, which has lead the way in building bridges of understanding and mutual learning for more than 40 years. 

Brad is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings together many areas of his life’s work, including academic training in the texts of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, inter-religious engagement for national and international leaders, life in Israel, and a passionate commitment to nurturing religious pluralism at home in the US, in the Middle East and around the world.  He is an ordained Orthodox rabbi, who holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Rabbi Hirschfield has taught and lectured in numerous seminaries – both Jewish and Christian, served as a commentator for media ranging from Fox News to the Washington Post, and is the author or editor of multiple works including, You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism (Harmony, 2008). He conceived and hosted two groundbreaking series for Bridges TV—American Muslim TV Network, Building Bridges: Abrahamic Perspectives on the World Today (three seasons), and American Pilgrimage. Rabbi Hirschfield also serves as the Executive Editor of The Wisdom Daily.

Rabbi Hirschfield’s work has brought him around the world, addressing 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 The Parliament of the World’s Religions in both Barcelona and Melbourne, he has also represented NGOs as well as the Government of the United States in meetings on the future of religion and religious leadership, in places including Washington D.C., Jerusalem, Cairo, The United Nations and the Republic of Indonesia, among others.

The Rev. Dr. Brian Maguire serves as the Senior Pastor of Fairmont Presbyterian Church in Dayton, Ohio, and also as an adjunct instructor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton. As a recovering corporate attorney, Brian also cleans up assorted ecclesial messes for denominations.  Over the past decade, Brian has co-led thirteen Holy Land trips with CLAL seeking to nurture a love of the Holy Land, deeper sensitivity to religious and cultural complexity, and a greater connection to both place and past for Christian clergy.  Brian's work in both Christian theology and inter-faith understanding is grounded on his Reformed belief that God has one plan for humanity called Covenant into which all are either born or invited to participate.  In addition to theology degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Duke University Divinity School, Brian is a graduate of The Living School focused on the practices of the Christian contemplative tradition.  Brian's ongoing research interests focus on the divergence of understandings of salvation in Late Antiquity both between and within Abrahamic faiths.

Jill Harman, MA, is the Associate Director of the Magis Catholic Teacher Corps at Creighton University, where she also teaches in the Department of Education. A restorative justice practitioner and ordained minister, Jill brings over a decade of ministry experience and has facilitated restorative work in schools, churches, and nonprofits. Her research explores the mentorship experiences of female clergy in the United Methodist Church. She is a 2024–2026 Sinai and Synapses Fellow and is passionate about faith, formation, and the common good.

Herbie is the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff of Palmetto Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, just outside Charleston. With more than twenty years of experience in higher education and congregational ministry, Herbie’s preaching, teaching, and leadership aim to help people engage Scripture, faith, and the world with clarity, compassion, and depth.

Before coming to Palmetto, Herbie earned his PhD at the University of Dayton, where his research in historical theology and American religious history examined how interfaith public debate shaped religious identity in nineteenth-century America. His work centered on an 1837 debate between the Catholic bishop John Purcell and Protestant leader Alexander Campbell—an exchange marked by uncharacteristic civility at a time of rising anti-Catholic sentiment. His book, The World Is Large Enough for Us All, was published by Fortress Academic in 2025. Drawing on his doctoral research, it explores how religious disagreement can become a formative space where communities clarify their convictions and imagine more faithful ways of living together amid difference (a brief interview about the book can be found here).

Herbie is a seasoned teacher, having taught at the University of Dayton, East Tennessee State University, and Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan University. His teaching experience spans the religious studies curriculum, including courses on world religions, biblical studies, Christian history, and theology. In both in-person and online classroom settings, Herbie emphasizes careful listening and historical awareness as essential practices for leaders navigating a complex and polarized world.

Currently, Herbie is collaborating with the Rev. Jill Harman on a Clal curriculum exploring the theme of covenant in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. This curriculum is being developed with Jewish partners Rabbi Brad Hirschfield and Rabbi Elan Babchuck. Designed for church leaders (especially Stand and See alumni), the curriculum equips Christian communities to engage Scripture deeply while fostering interfaith understanding and respect for Jewish interpretive traditions.