He is spiritual leader of New York’s Park East Synagogue since 1962, and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Department of State Special Recognition Award. Rabbi Schneier is U.S. Alternate Representative to the U.N. General Assembly and Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. He was one of three American religious leaders appointed by President Clinton to start the first dialogue on religious freedom with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and is a member of the U.S. delegation to the Stockholm International Forum for the Prevention of Genocide, Sweden (2004.)
Rabbi Schneier has headed fifty-eight interfaith missions to the former Soviet Union as a leader in advancing mutual understanding and inter-religious cooperation in the Russian Federation, Caucasus and Central Asia. In addition, he has convened six international conferences, including the Dialogue Among Civilizations Forum. Rabbi Schneier has been a member of: the Council on Foreign Relations; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Committee on Conscience; Asia Society; and is a past board member of the United Nations Development Corporation. He holds ten honorary doctorates from U.S. and European universities. His awards include: the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold with Star for Service to the Republic of Austria; Order of the Republic of Hungary; Dr. Karl Renner Prize of the City of Vienna; Order of St. Daniel of Moscow; and the Religious Liberty Award.