I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2723 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur Schneier in recognition 

of his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and human rights 

throughout the world, for close to half a century. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Arthur 

Schneier in recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious freedom and human rights throughout 

the world, for close to half a century. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rabbi Arthur Schneier 

5 Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Spiritual Leader of 

2 Park East Synagogue and Founder and President, 

3 Appeal of Conscience Foundation, has played a pio4 neering role in promoting religious freedom and 

5 human rights throughout the world, for close to half 

6 a century. 

7 (2) The President of the United States awarded 

8 him the Presidential Citizens Medal for ‘‘his service 

9 as an international envoy for four administrations’’ 

10 and as a Holocaust survivor, ‘‘devoting a lifetime to 

11 overcoming forces of hatred and intolerance’’. 

12 (3) He received the United States Department 

13 of State Special Recognition Award from Secretary 

14 Colin Powell for ‘‘. . . his ecumenical work in favor 

15 of mutual understanding, tolerance and peace . . .’’. 

16 (4) In China in 2004, he headed an interfaith 

17 Appeal of Conscience Foundation delegation which 

18 met with government officials on behalf of religious 

19 freedom and strengthened exchanges between reli20 gious communities in China and the United States. 

21 (5) He has regularly led delegations of religious 

22 leaders to China since the early 1980s. 

23 (6) In the Former Soviet Union, Rabbi 

24 Schneier was, in 2004, the keynote speaker at the 


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1 Interreligious Conference on Peace hosted by Patri2 arch Aleksey II. 

3 (7) In Armenia in 2002, he held meetings with 

4 the Catholicos of all Armenians and government 

5 leaders to help ease tensions between Armenia and 

6 Turkey. 

7 (8) He convened the Religious Summit on the 

8 Former Yugoslavia in Switzerland and the Conflict 

9 Resolution Conference in Vienna, mobilizing Catho10 lic, Muslim, and Orthodox Christian religious leaders 

11 to halt the bloodshed in former Yugoslavia (1992, 

12 1995). 

13 (9) In the Balkans, Caucasus, and Central 

14 Asia, he initiated the Peace and Tolerance Con15 ference in Istanbul, Turkey, in cooperation with the 

16 Turkish Government and the Ecumenical Patriarch 

17 Bartholomew I (1994). 

18 (10) In Bosnia-Herzegovina, he met with top 

19 government and religious leaders in Sarajevo to pro20 mote healing and conciliation between the Serbian 

21 Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish commu22 nities (1997). 

23 (11) Rabbi Schneier initiated the interfaith ap24 peal to the United Nations for the worldwide protec25 tion of holy sites, which was adopted by the United 


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1 Nations General Assembly in May 2001 as the reso2 lution for the ‘‘Protection of Religious Sites’’. 

3 (12) In 1980, he initiated the Annual Seminar 

4 on Religious Life to educate Foreign Service officers 

5 in the religious traditions of the countries of their 

6 assignment. 

7 (13) The Foreign Service Institute honored him 

8 in 2001 for ‘‘20 years of excellent cooperation in 

9 furthering the objective of religious freedom’’. 

10 (14) He was awarded the Department of State 

11 Special Recognition Award from Secretary of State 

12 Hillary Clinton ‘‘for his 30 years of partnership in 

13 helping Foreign Affairs professionals to better un14 derstand the right to religious freedom in the coun15 tries in which they serve’’. 

16 (15) He has been very active in humanitarian 

17 missions, such as mobilizing the American religious 

18 community in support for the victims of the Arme19 nian and Turkish earthquakes and Romanian floods. 

20 (16) A United States Alternate Representative 

21 to the United Nations General Assembly and Chair22 man of the United States Commission for the Pres23 ervation of America’s Heritage Abroad, he was one 

24 of 3 American religious leaders appointed by the 

25 President of the United States to start the first diaVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:34 Jun 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2723.IH H2723

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1 logue on religious freedom with President Jiang 

2 Zemin and other top Chinese leaders (1998). 

3 (17) He was a United States delegate to the 

4 Stockholm International Forum for the Prevention 

5 of Genocide (2004). 

6 (18) Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, Rabbi 

7 Schneier lived under Nazi occupation in Budapest 

8 during World War II and arrived in the United 

9 States in 1947. 

10 (19) He holds the Ordination and Doctor of Di11 vinity Degree from Yeshiva University. 

12 (20) In 2004, Yeshiva University honored him 

13 by establishing the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center 

14 for International Affairs. 

15 (21) He hosted Pope Benedict XVI at Park 

16 East Synagogue, the first visit of a Pope to a syna17 gogue in the United States (2008), and the Ecu18 menical Patriarch Bartholomew (2009). 

19 (22) He was invited by King Abdullah of Saudi 

20 Arabia as a keynote to the Interfaith Conference 

21 (Madrid) (2008). 

22 (23) He was appointed by the UN Secretary 

23 General to the High Level Group ‘‘Alliance of Civili24 zations’’ (2005) and he was appointed Ambassador 

25 of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (2009). 


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1 (24) He was honored with the Knight Com2 mander of the Order of Civil Merit by the Kingdom 

3 of Spain, Officer of the Order of the Le ́gion 

4 d’honneur of France, Officer’s Cross of the Order of 

5 Merit of Germany, Grand Decoration of Honor in 

6 Gold with Star for Service to the Republic of Aus7 tria, Order of the Republic of Hungary, Officer’s 

8 Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Po9 land, the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, 

10 Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for Special 

11 Services to the Province of Vienna. 

12 (25) He received the Order of St. Daniel of 

13 Moscow, for ‘‘his leadership in inter-religious co14 operation and the strengthening of ties between 

15 American religious communities and the Russian Or16 thodox Church’’ (2004). 

17 (26) He was selected Friend of the Armenians 

18 for his ‘‘solidarity with Armenians in the cause of 

19 human rights’’. 

20 (27) He received the Order of St. Andrew the 

21 Apostle Athenagoras Human Rights Award for ‘‘his 

22 contributions to the improvement of tolerance and 

23 peace among all religions throughout the world’’ 

24 (2008). 


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1 (28) He received the Guru Nanac Interfaith 

2 Prize, Hofstra University for ‘‘fostering religious tol3 erance and cooperation’’ (2010). 

4 (29) He was the recipient of eleven honorary 

5 doctorates from United States and foreign univer6 sities. 

7 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

8 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

9 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem10 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

11 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

12 medal of appropriate design to Rabbi Arthur Schneier in 

13 recognition of his pioneering role in promoting religious 

14 freedom and human rights throughout the world, for close 

15 to half a century. 

16 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

17 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

18 of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 

19 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em20 blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 

21 Secretary. 

22 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

23 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

24 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

25 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 


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1 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

2 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

3 and the cost of the gold medal. 

4 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

5 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu6 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

7 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

8 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

9 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

10 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

Æ 


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