In the News

Huffington Post By Rabbi Marc Schneier The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings today on the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. In a pre-hearing interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, sub-committee chairman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), said that anti-Semitism “is getting demonstrably worse all over the world, but especially Europe … The Middle East is a cauldron of anti-Semitic hate, but much of that hatred is spilling out through the Muslim Diaspora and through...

Ynet By Rabbi Marc Schneier Op-ed: Prominent rabbi says increased willingness of European Muslim leaders to denounce attacks on Jews mustn’t be overlooked The delegates to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations deserve our united applause for travelling to Paris last week to express solidarity with French Jewry, which has endured a rising number of violent anti-Semitic attacks in recent years, including the horrific incident in Toulouse last March in which an Islamist...

The Jerusalem Post By Sam Sokol Dozens of imams hold Holocaust commemoration in Drancy, where Jews in 1942 were confined before being transported to extermination camps. Leaders of Jewish and Muslim communities in Germany met in Cologne on Tuesday in an effort by the New York based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding to “create long-term strategies to promote interfaith unity.” According to the foundation, both Jews and Muslims have suffered from efforts to restrict their religious freedom and...

Huffington Post By Rabbi Marc Schneier New York City and the entire nation are mourning the passing of former Mayor Ed Koch, a larger-than-life figure who came to personify the city he ran with verve and ebullience for three full terms from 1978-1989. Coming to office at a time when New York was all but bankrupt and seemingly coming apart at the seams, Koch used his mayoralty as a bully pulpit to revive New Yorkers’ belief in the viability of the city as a safe and vibrant place to live and raise...

The Jerusalem Post By Marc Schneier Last March, in the wake of the killings in Toulouse, large numbers of French Muslims took part in interfaith demonstrations. Earlier this week, Israeli Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein unveiled a report on worldwide anti-Semitism which shows an alarming rise in anti-Jewish incidents during 2012, including violent attacks on Jews by Muslims. The study, released in conjunction with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, found an increasing...

Brooklyn Daily Eagle By Francesca Norsen Tate January 24, 2013 The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, in cooperation with UJA Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, has authored a prayer that was read in synagogues across the country on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Weekend, Saturday, Jan. 19. The prayer recognizes Dr. King’s partnership with the American Jewish community in achieving equality for all Americans. Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the...

Huffington Post By Michelle Schweiger Schecter In an event held on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, I had the pleasure of introducing Rabbi Marc Schneier to a group of teens at Renaissance Education, Music, and Sports, a not-for-profit that serves the South Bronx by providing music and sports enrichment programming, as well as after-school and weekend academic tutoring, to elementary, middle and high school students in Upper Manhattan, Harlem and the Bronx. For almost two hours,...

Jewish Daily Forward By Marc Schneier This year, we commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 21, the same day that we celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term as president of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. Day also marks the beginning of a year-long observance of the 50th Anniversary of King’s transcendent “I Have a Dream Speech” at the March on Washington that took place on August 28, 1963. Nearly half a century has passed since that historic...

Jewish Daily Forward By Marc Schneier This year, we commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 21, the same day that we celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term as president of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. Day also marks the beginning of a year-long observance of the 50th Anniversary of King’s transcendent “I Have a Dream Speech” at the March on Washington that took place on August 28, 1963. Nearly half a century has passed since that historic...

Palm Beach Daily News By Betty Nelander A national prayer honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., written by Rabbi Marc Schneier, will be inaugurated at a special service Saturday at New Synagogue, 235 Sunrise Ave. The prayer has been distributed to thousands of Jewish organizations and in advertising. Schneier, author of Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Jewish Community, will recite the prayer with the congregation at a commemoration starting at 10:30 a.m., during a Shabbat service...