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By Lizzie Stein, 11/16/2018

Teens standing in front of the United States Capitol building

At the conclusion of the 2017-2018 L’Taken season, we launched the inaugural cohort of the RAC Teen Justice Fellowship with 50 teens registered for this opportunity. This fellowship, designed exclusively for alumni of the Bernard and Audre Rapoport L’Taken Social Justice Seminars, created an online community-based learning space. We covered current events, advocacy skills trainings and civic engagement. For successful completion of the fellowship, each fellow was required to complete a Civic Engagement Project. Below are a...

Reform Jewish Communities Are Still Standing up for Refugees in the Wake of Pittsburgh

By Talia Kaplan, 11/09/2018

Following in the tradition of Abraham, who heeded God’s call in Parshat Lech Lecha, 275 diverse Jewish communities in 33 states across North America responded to the urgency of the global refugee crisis by celebrating National Refugee Shabbat on October 19-20. This shabbat, coordinated by HIAS, served as an opportunity to learn more about the global refugee crisis—now the worst in history with 68.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide—and to commit to action. Many Reform congregations...

Reflecting on the Historic 2018 U.S. Midterm Election

By Rabbi Jonah Pesner, 11/07/2018

Rabbi Jonah Pesner takes a selfie outside a polling place on Election Day

The U.S. 2018 Midterm Elections were historic in many ways.

We saw more women, minority, and Jewish candidates than ever before run for office, and we can now celebrate the diversity of our newly elected Congress. This 116th Congress will include more than 30 Jewish members, including newly elected representatives Andy Levin from Michigan, Dean Phillips from Minnesota, Max Rose from New York, Susan Wild from Pennsylvania, and Elaine Luria from Virginia. The new Congress includes the first Muslim women elected to Congress (Rashida Tlaib from Michigan and Ilhan Omar from...

Guided by Faith to Vote Yes on 4

By Rabbi Ethan Bair, Rabbi Gayle Pomerantz and Nancy Ratzan, 11/05/2018

Letters urging voters to vote YES on Florida Amendment 4

The writer and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel once said that the greatest gift God gave humans was not the ability to begin, but the ability to begin again. Every religion teaches that forgiveness and redemption are possible, and the Jewish tradition is no different. As Jews, we believe in repentance (teshuvah) and self-improvement. We refuse to define people by their worst moment. And this is why we support Amendment 4, which will restore voting eligibility to Florida’s formerly incarcerated returning citizens.

Today, there are 1.4 million Floridians who have no voice in the...

Trick-or-Treating for Civic Engagement

By Mar Silkes , 11/01/2018

Teens dressed for Halloween as Rosie the Riveter and a suffragette.

On October 31, my friend and I took to the streets. Not for the normal Halloween reasons, oh no. We had an ulterior motive. As we went door-to-door, we weren’t asking for candy, but instead asking people if they had remembered to vote in the midterms. Of course, we weren’t going to say no to the candy.

I didn’t know what to expect when we started out. I had no clue if any of my neighbors were politically involved or cared about voting at all. But regardless, my friend and I started walking, laughing nervously as we approached the first door of the night. Five...