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Rabbi Michael Weisser

Michael Weisser has been the rabbi and spiritual leader of the Free Synagogue of Flushing (FSF) since September 2008. His focus on the Jewish value of “welcoming the stranger” continues Free Synagogue’s tradition of embracing freedom, diversity, and its surrounding community. Rabbi Weisser also has participated in the planning and execution of the Queens Unity Walk, which brings together people of various faiths for a day of learning. He is currently involved in the creation of an interfaith council that will serve the ethnically and religiously diverse borough of Queens. Recently, Rabbi Weisser was among those chosen to deliver an invocation at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Interfaith Breakfast.

Prior to his arrival at the FSF, upon his return from a rabbinic posting in New Zealand, Rabbi Weisser taught spirituality and meditation in Nebraska. In New Zealand, he served as Rabbi of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Auckland. Previously, he served the Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Lincoln, Nebraska for many years, and he taught in the Philosophy and Religion Department of the Nebraska Wesleyan University for 11 years. One of his courses, entitled “Christian & Jewish Heritage,” was one of the most popular elective courses offered at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

When the rabbi was a cantor in Lincoln, Nebraska, Larry Trapp, the Grand Dragon of the White Knights of theKu Klux Klan threatened him and his family. The rabbi’s response was to reach out to the one behind the threats. He ultimately befriended Trapp and was instrumental in his change from a life-long racist to renouncing hatred and speaking out publicly against bigotry. Three months before his death from diabetes-related kidney disease in 1992, Trapp converted to Judaism under Rabbi Weisser’s guidance, and in the very synagogue that he once plotted to blow up. The book, Not By the Sword: How a Cantor and His Family Transformed a Klansman was written about these events by Kathryn Watterson. The University of Nebraska Press is reissuing the book in 2012.

Rabbi Weisser studied at the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion and the Rabbinical Academy of America – both in New York City. He is ordained as a Rabbi and Cantor and certified as an educator. Rabbi Weisser has been actively involved in interfaith activities for many years and has received numerous awards for his work in this area. Among the many awards he has received are:

• Person of the Year -- Lincoln Interfaith Council
• Man of the Year – ACLU Nebraska
• Ecumenical Person of the Year -- United Methodist Church, Nebraska Annual Conference
• Person of the Year – NAACP Nebraska
• Honorary Doctorate – Hebrew Union College in recognition of interfaith & interethnic work
• The Government of New Zealand – Official delegate at the “Dialogue for Religious Harmony and Cooperation”
• Yogyakarta, Indonesia Citation for Interfaith Understanding -- Consul General of Indonesia
• National Peacemaker – Pax Christi (to be awarded 06/2012)