Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, has been nominated by President Reagan as an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N. General Assembly session, which opens Sept. 20.
The 58-year-old Orthodox rabbi has been religious leader of the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan since 1962.
In a telephone interview, Schneier said that while he will be representing the United States on all the issues that the U.S. delegation faces at the United Nations, he hopes to focus on human rights and religious freedom, which has been an ongoing concern of his for years.
As president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Schneier has frequently visited the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and Eastern Europe to discuss these issues with the leaders of those countries.
“It’s going to be quite a challenge,” he said of his appointment. Schneier said he hopes to be able to give the human rights policy, which Reagan enunciated during the Moscow summit “the broadest echo” in a global forum.
The Vienna-born Schneier is also the first rabbi to be named a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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