While David Saperstein was still studying to become a Rabbi, the Saranac Lake Jewish Community used to have student Rabbis come up during the High Holiday Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) to conduct services. In 2015, he was appointed United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 16, 1971
Rabbi Saperstein Here for Holy Days
Rabbi David Saperstein, who will conduct the High Holy Day services at the Jewish Community Center in Saranac Lake is a graduate of Cornell University and is now attending the Hebrew Union College in New York City. He is the chaplain at the Danbury Federal Prison in Danbury, Conn. He also teaches a course in modern problems in the light of Jewish tradition. His father also is a rabbi and is president of the board of rabbis of New York City.
All are welcome to attend services, beginning 8 p. m. Sunday, Sept. 19 , and at 10 a. m. Monday, Sept. 20.
Rabbi David Saperstein
Former Director and Counsel
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 Jewish Movement to Congress and the Administration as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) for forty years.
Since December 12th, 2014, when Rabbi Saperstein was confirmed by the Senate, he has been working at the State Department as the newest U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Under Rabbi Saperstein, writes J.J. Goldberg in his book Jewish Power, the Religious Action Center "has become one of the most powerful Jewish bodies in Washington, second only to AIPAC."
During his four-decade tenure at the helm of the RAC, Rabbi Saperstein has headed several national religious coalitions, including the Coalition to Protect Religious Liberty. 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."
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, and in 2009, he was appointed by President Obama as a member of the first White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In 2004 and 2006, the Wall Street Journal and the Religion News Service respectively described him as among the country's most influential shapers of religious issues in national elections.
Also an attorney, Rabbi Saperstein teaches seminars in First Amendment Church-State Law and in Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law School.
A prolific writer and speaker, Rabbi Saperstein has appeared on a number of television news and talk shows including Oprah, Nightline, Lehrer News Hour, ABC's Sunday Morning, Crossfire, the Rachel Maddow Show, Hardball - and the O'Reilly Factor. 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.
In his book Thunder in America, network news correspondent Bob Faw wrote of Rabbi Saperstein: "Saperstein learned from political masters... [His] energy is almost legendary - no one around him worked longer hours, no one darted in and out of more meetings... Once he'd taken on an assignment, he'd always guide it safely home to completion."
