The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah welcomes Rabbi David Saperstein as its Jewish Voice of Conscience-in-Residence on Friday and Saturday, June 30 and July 1.
Selected by Newsweek magazine in 2009 as the most influential rabbi in the country and described in a Washington Post profile as the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill,” Rabbi David Saperstein represented the Reform Movement to Congress and the administration as the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) for 40 years.
In 2014, Rabbi Saperstein was nominated by President Barak Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. In 2017, Rabbi Saperstein returned to the RAC to become its senior advisor for policy and strategy.
Rabbi Saperstein was a leader in securing enactment of many of the most important civil rights and religious liberty laws over that period. For many in the Jewish and civil rights community, Rabbi Saperstein’s work has been the very embodiment of tikkun olam (repairing the world). He is perhaps the most recognized spokesman in the Jewish community on a wide range of civil rights and social justice issues of our day.
He serves on the board of numerous national organizations including the NAACP, People for the American Way, National Religious Partnership on the Environment and the World Bank’s “World Faith Development Dialogue.”
“We are delighted he will be our speaker and teacher this Shabbat. Not often are we privileged to sit with and learn from one who has shaped the history of civil rights in the 20th and 21st centuries. We hope many will come to learn from this inspiring prophet for social and religious equality,” said B’nai Jehudah Senior Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff.
Erev Shabbat services on June 30 begin at 6 p.m., preceded by Bisseleh Nosh at 5:30 p.m. Shabbat services on Saturday, July 1, begin at 10:30 a.m.
