Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker comes to Temple Beth Shalom of Mahopac with three
decades of experience in serving Jewish communities around the country. A
native of California, Rabbi Zucker graduated from the University of
California, Berkeley, with a B.A. in Archaeology of the Near East, and did
several years of archaeological work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s
Institute of Archaeology before beginning seminary studies at the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where he received
an M.A. in Hebrew Literature in 1976. He was ordained at the HUC-JIR campus
in Cincinnati in 1978.
Rabbi Zucker has served pulpits in Tennessee, the Los Angeles area, Northern
Virginia, the Chicago suburbs, and Long Island. Active in interfaith work,
Rabbi has served as a leader in promoting better understanding between the
Jewish and Christian communities and also the Jewish and Moslem communities.
An avid teacher, Zucker has taught at the American Jewish University, the
Dawn Schuman Institute, and most recently, served as chair of the Hebrew
Department at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.
The youngest of the three children of refugees from Nazi Germany, our
Rabbi Zucker followed the example set by his father, the late Rabbi Dr. John
J. Zucker, and became active in the promotion of human rights. Rabbi Zucker
was involved in the Soviet Jewry Protest movement; he helped organize the
American Rabbinic Network for Ethiopian Jewry and as its international
president in 1990 traveled to Addis Ababa to negotiate successfully for the
release of 150 prisoners of conscience. In the early 1990’s Rabbi Zucker was
active in the fight to secure exit visas for the Jews of Syria. He has been
involved in the efforts to prevent the genocide in Darfur, and has been very
active in the promotion of Human Rights in the Middle-East.
Rabbi Zucker is married to Elena Mustri-Saba, formerly of Mexico City.
Their 16 year old daughter Rahel is a sophomore at Mahopac High School. The
Zuckers are the parents of Yehudit Zucker, C.E.O. of Zucker Design of
Calabasas, CA, and Fortine Saba of Island Park, NY, and the proud
grandparents of 2½-year old Amiel Mordehai.
Rabbi Zucker’s hobbies include hiking, canoeing,
backpacking, skiing, and cooking. He has promised the congregation that he
will also teach gourmet kosher cooking classes at the synagogue.