This blog post is adapted from the D'Var Torah offered by Aaron Torop at the Reform Movement's gathering in DC before the March for Our Lives. To learn more about the youth-led Reform Movement mobilization to end gun violence, visit www.NFTY.org/GVP.

Photo: Donovan Marks, courtesy of Washington National Cathedral.  

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, made the following statement about the March for Our Lives:

“Students are leading where my generation has

Last weekend, Harvey McGuinness participated in the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's L'Taken Social Justice Seminar, which brings teens from across the country to Washington, D.C., to learn about social justice, advocacy, and Jewish values.

Last week, Reform Jewish high school students from across the country came to Washington, D.C for the Bernard and Audre Rapaport L’Taken Social Justice Seminar.

On Wednesday, March 14, one month after the mass shooting that killed 17 students and community members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Matthew Youkilis, along with other Reform Jewish students and their classmates organized

This post is adapted from a sermon given by Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner at the NFTY Southern Tropical Region (NFTY-STR) Kallah at Temple Kol Ami Emanuel in Plantation, Florida on March 16, 2018.

My hope for you is that your schools will feel as safe as your camp cabins. I want you to be able to run, laugh, play, learn, and grow as freely as you could at camp, where your biggest fear is falling and skinning your knee. I want you to not have to question whether or not the next time you talk to your friends will be the last time you’re able to. I want you to be active and engaged citizens, like we teach you to be at camp, but I want you to do this out of a desire for good, not out of trauma and necessity. Most importantly, I want you to just be kids. I want you to not have to worry. I want you to have a childhood that lasts as long as possible, free from fear, free from pain, and free to always be as happy as you are at 201 Camp Coleman Drive. 

Last week, Reform Jewish high school students from across the country came to Washington, D.C for the Bernard and Audre Rapaport L’Taken Social Justice Seminar.

December 14, 2017, will mark the 5^th anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In the years since, 500,000 Americans have been killed or injured by gun violence.