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Rabbi David Saperstein
August 5, 2008
Rabbi David Saperstein is the
Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in
Washington, DC. Described by The Washington Post as the "quintessential
religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill," he represents the national
Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the administration. During
his 30 year tenure as Director of the Center, Rabbi Saperstein
has headed several national religious coalitions. He currently
co-chairs the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, comprised
of over 50 national religious denominations and educational organizations,
and serves on the boards of numerous national organizations including
the NAACP and People For the American Way. In 1999, Rabbi Saperstein
was elected as the first Chair of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom created by a unanimous vote of Congress.
Also an attorney, Rabbi Saperstein
teaches seminars in both First Amendment Church-State Law and
in Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law School. A prolific
writer and speaker, he has appeared on a number of television
news and talk shows including "Nightline," "Oprah,"
and the "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." His articles
have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times and
The Harvard Law Review. His latest book is Jewish Dimensions
of Social Justice: Tough Moral Choices of Our Time.
Rabbi Saperstein is part of
a large rabbinic family. Great uncles on both sides of his family
were Reform rabbis, two great-grandfathers were Orthodox rabbis,
his father Harold and uncle Sanford were well-known Reform rabbis,
and his brother Marc is one of this generation's leading Jewish
scholars.
This will mark Rabbi Saperstein's
fifth Amphitheater lecture since the late 1980s. |
