Rabbi David Saperstein, the long-time Director of the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), who served as U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom during the Obama Administration, will serve as President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) in 2019-2020.

As previously announced by the World Union, a successor has been selected to lead the World Union as its new President beginning no later than the summer of 2020.

Newsweek Magazine has called Rabbi Saperstein the most influential rabbi in America and the Washington Post called him, “the quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill.”
 
The first rabbi to hold the title of U.S. Ambassador, Rabbi Saperstein dealt directly with the ministries of religion, justice, and foreign affairs in the 32 nations he visited, and developed deep ties with religious leaders and institutions in nations across the globe, including with many of our World Union congregations.
 
An attorney as well as a rabbi, Rabbi Saperstein taught church-state law and comparative Jewish and American law at Georgetown University Law Center for 35 years. He has authored and edited several books on Jewish social justice themes and his articles have appeared in a number of academic and news publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Harvard Law Review.

Rabbi Saperstein will continue with some of his responsibilities as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Policy to the URJ and the RAC.