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 pro-
moting religious freedom and human rights throughout 
the world, for close to half a century. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rabbi Arthur Schneier 
Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
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(1) Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Spiritual Leader of 
Park East Synagogue and Founder and President, 
Appeal of Conscience Foundation, has played a pio-
neering role in promoting religious freedom and 
human rights throughout the world, for close to half 
a century. 
(2) The President of the United States awarded 
him the Presidential Citizens Medal for ‘‘his service 
as an international envoy for four administrations’’ 
and as a Holocaust survivor, ‘‘devoting a lifetime to 
overcoming forces of hatred and intolerance’’. 
(3) He received the United States Department 
of State Special Recognition Award from Secretary 
Colin Powell for ‘‘. . . his ecumenical work in favor 
of mutual understanding, tolerance and peace . . .’’. 
(4) In China in 2004, he headed an interfaith 
Appeal of Conscience Foundation delegation which 
met with government officials on behalf of religious 
freedom and strengthened exchanges between reli-
gious communities in China and the United States. 
(5) He has regularly led delegations of religious 
leaders to China since the early 1980s. 
(6) In the Former Soviet Union, Rabbi 
Schneier was, in 2004, the keynote speaker at the 
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Interreligious Conference on Peace hosted by Patri-
arch Aleksey II. 
(7) In Armenia in 2002, he held meetings with 
the Catholicos of all Armenians and government 
leaders to help ease tensions between Armenia and 
Turkey. 
(8) He convened the Religious Summit on the 
Former Yugoslavia in Switzerland and the Conflict 
Resolution Conference in Vienna, mobilizing Catho-
lic, Muslim, and Orthodox Christian religious leaders 
to halt the bloodshed in former Yugoslavia (1992, 
1995). 
(9) In the Balkans, Caucasus, and Central 
Asia, he initiated the Peace and Tolerance Con-
ference in Istanbul, Turkey, in cooperation with the 
Turkish Government and the Ecumenical Patriarch 
Bartholomew I (1994). 
(10) In Bosnia-Herzegovina, he met with top 
government and religious leaders in Sarajevo to pro-
mote healing and conciliation between the Serbian 
Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish commu-
nities (1997). 
(11) Rabbi Schneier initiated the interfaith ap-
peal to the United Nations for the worldwide protec-
tion of holy sites, which was adopted by the United 
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Nations General Assembly in May 2001 as the reso-
lution for the ‘‘Protection of Religious Sites’’. 
(12) In 1980, he initiated the Annual Seminar 
on Religious Life to educate Foreign Service officers 
in the religious traditions of the countries of their 
assignment. 
(13) The Foreign Service Institute honored him 
in 2001 for ‘‘20 years of excellent cooperation in 
furthering the objective of religious freedom’’. 
(14) He was awarded the Department of State 
Special Recognition Award from Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton ‘‘for his 30 years of partnership in 
helping Foreign Affairs professionals to better un-
derstand the right to religious freedom in the coun-
tries in which they serve’’. 
(15) He has been very active in humanitarian 
missions, such as mobilizing the American religious 
community in support for the victims of the Arme-
nian and Turkish earthquakes and Romanian floods. 
(16) A United States Alternate Representative 
to the United Nations General Assembly and Chair-
man of the United States Commission for the Pres-
ervation of America’s Heritage Abroad, he was one 
of 3 American religious leaders appointed by the 
President of the United States to start the first dia-
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logue on religious freedom with President Jiang 
Zemin and other top Chinese leaders (1998). 
(17) He was a United States delegate to the 
Stockholm International Forum for the Prevention 
of Genocide (2004). 
(18) Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, Rabbi 
Schneier lived under Nazi occupation in Budapest 
during World War II and arrived in the United 
States in 1947. 
(19) He holds the Ordination and Doctor of Di-
vinity Degree from Yeshiva University. 
(20) In 2004, Yeshiva University honored him 
by establishing the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center 
for International Affairs. 
(21) He hosted Pope Benedict XVI at Park 
East Synagogue, the first visit of a Pope to a syna-
gogue in the United States (2008), and the Ecu-
menical Patriarch Bartholomew (2009). 
(22) He was invited by King Abdullah of Saudi 
Arabia as a keynote to the Interfaith Conference 
(Madrid) (2008). 
(23) He was appointed by the UN Secretary 
General to the High Level Group ‘‘Alliance of Civili-
zations’’ (2005) and he was appointed Ambassador 
of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (2009). 
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(24) He was honored with the Knight Com-
mander of the Order of Civil Merit by the Kingdom 
of Spain, Officer of the Order of the Le´gion 
d’honneur of France, Officer’s Cross of the Order of 
Merit of Germany, Grand Decoration of Honor in 
Gold with Star for Service to the Republic of Aus-
tria, Order of the Republic of Hungary, Officer’s 
Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Po-
land, the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, 
Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for Special 
Services to the Province of Vienna. 
(25) He received the Order of St. Daniel of 
Moscow, for ‘‘his leadership in inter-religious co-
operation and the strengthening of ties between 
American religious communities and the Russian Or-
thodox Church’’ (2004). 
(26) He was selected Friend of the Armenians 
for his ‘‘solidarity with Armenians in the cause of 
human rights’’. 
(27) He received the Order of St. Andrew the 
Apostle Athenagoras Human Rights Award for ‘‘his 
contributions to the improvement of tolerance and 
peace among all religions throughout the world’’ 
(2008). 
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(28) He received the Guru Nanac Interfaith 
Prize, Hofstra University for ‘‘fostering religious tol-
erance and cooperation’’ (2010). 
(29) He was the recipient of eleven honorary 
doctorates from United States and foreign univer-
sities. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design 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. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
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a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 
51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
Æ 
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