Rabbi David Saperstein

To be honest, before I started as a legislative assistant, I didn’t know much about the RAC or David Saperstein. I knew that David was a sort of Washington macher and that the RAC was an institution that united both my desire to live and work by Jewish values and my passion for politics and social justice. So, when I found out I got the job in March 2013, I was pretty sure my dreams of becoming the next Josh Lyman were coming true.

Today I will assume my responsibilities as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. It is a great honor. It is linked with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism with what has been the abiding passion of my heart: to make real the Jewish prophetic ideals of justice, peace, freedom, equality and compassion, in America, in Israel, in the lives of human beings everywhere. The greatest blessing of my life was to do so for 40 years at the RAC. Imagine: someone giving you a job to do what you love doing more than anything in the world, day in and day out. Of course, by this point in his journey, Moses had approached the Promised Land and we have a bit longer to go, but…

As you may have heard, the United States Senate voted to confirm Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center to the post of United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department. We are incredibly proud of the legacy Rabbi Saperstein has built at the Religious Action Center over these last 40 years. The RAC is a cornerstone of the identity of the Reform Jewish Movement. Its engagement with and support for and by synagogues, rabbis, lay leaders, and the broader Jewish community, has situated social justice at the heart of expression of Jewish values and Jewish living across North America. Thousands come to the RAC to learn about how our Movement seeks to apply our moral values to shaping the policy decisions of our government; our online resources have impacted countless more.