[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF RABBI ARTHUR SCHNEIER ON HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY AND 50TH 
                             YEAR AS RABBI

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2005

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the achievements of 
Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a tireless public servant, friend to all New 
Yorkers and one of our Nation's foremost spiritual leaders. On Sunday, 
March 20, 2005, Rabbi Schneier will celebrate his 75th birthday and 
50th year as Rabbi at a dinner benefitting the Rabbi Arthur Schneier 
Center for International Affairs at Yeshiva University, which was 
established in 2004 to promote international peace and the exchange of 
ideas across cultural divides.
  As a young man, Rabbi Schneier was a resident of Nazi-occupied 
Bucharest, where he experienced firsthand the depths of mankind's 
capacity for evil. Throughout his distinguished career, Rabbi Schneier 
has turned his experience as a Holocaust survivor into an incredible 
drive to stamp out hatred and intolerance throughout the world. In 
1965, Rabbi Schneier founded the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which 
works to foster religious freedom and human rights and to end ethnic 
conflicts.
  During the long and bloody war in the former Yugoslavia, Rabbi 
Schneier convened the Religious Summit on the Former Yugoslavia in 
Switzerland and the Conflict Resolution Conference in Vienna, Austria, 
mobilizing religious leaders to help end the ethnic violence plaguing 
leaders to help end the ethnic violence plaguing the region. 
Additionally, in Sarajevo, Rabbi Schneier met with top government and 
religious leaders to promote healing and conciliation amond the Serbian 
Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic and Jewish communities.
  Rabbi Schneier has also served our Nation in an official capacity as 
an Alternate U.S. Representative to the U.N. General Assembly.
  Additionally, as Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation 
of America's Heritage Abroad, Rabbi Schneier was one of three American 
religious leaders appointed by President Bill Clinton to initiate a 
dialogue on religious freedom with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. 
Recently, Rabbi Schneier was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 
Stockholm International Forum for the Prevention of Genocide.
  Rabbi Schneier's accomplishments here at home have been equally 
impressive. He is the Senior Rabbi of the Park East Synagogue, 
established in 1890 to serve the Jewish community of the Upper East 
Side of Manhattan. Centered in the heart of the largest Jewish 
population outside of Israel, the Synagogue has expanded significantly 
under Rabbi Schneier's leadership and is an invaluable part of New York 
City's spiritual and cultural life. Additionally, Rabbi Schneier, 
recognizing the growing desire among the American Jewish community to 
provide their children with a strong Jewish education, initiated and 
led a successful effort to establish a Jewish day school in New York. 
In 1977, both the Minks Cultural Center and the Park East Day School 
opened, furthering the Synagogue's ability to meet the Upper East 
Side's educational and social needs.
  Mr. Speaker, I request that my colleagues join me in paying tribute 
to Rabbi Arthur Schneier and wishing him a wonderful 75th birthday 
celebration. Rabbi Schneier's dedication to tolerance and international 
peace serves as an inspiration to us all.

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