Highlights from the 2026 L'Taken Season

Another incredible L'Taken season has come to a close! Over the 2026 season, we brought 1,300 Jewish high schoolers from across the US to join us in Washington, D.C. over our four seminars. They learned about social justice and advocacy through a Jewish lens, visited places around DC, met other Reform teens from around the country, and made their voices heard on Capitol Hill.

Read about our season highlights of the 2026 season of the Bernard and Audre Rappaport L'Taken Social Justice Seminar and then register to join us for the 2027 season!

1. L'TAKEN BY THE NUMBERS

See some of our statistics for the year below:

• Throughout the whole L’Taken season, we scheduled 279 meetings with congressional offices, representing the Senate and House offices of all our attendees.
• 12 brand new delegations attended L'Taken for the very first time this year!
• We had 32 states represented (33 including Washington, DC) encompassing all 140 delegations in attendance across the four weekends.
  • The state with the most people in attendance was California with 175 people followed closely by New York with 167 people.
     

2. RETURNING STUDENTS PROGRAM!

Our returning student program grows bigger and bigger every year! We had 138 students across 46 delegations that were back at L'Taken for a second year – or even a third year! That is nearly 10% of all L’Taken attendees! Returning students participate in special programming throughout the weekend and have access to special privileges, such as helping to lead our community during services and Friday night blessings. They also got to help lead other students to Havdallah using neon vests and light wands. Students on our February 20-23 weekend also piloted a new program about how to combat antisemitism on campus. Most importantly, the returning students had a special opportunity to have lunch with our Eisendrath Legislative Assistants to talk about their jobs at the RAC, how they got there, and what motivates them to do the work. There are certainly some future Legislative Assistants among this group of students!
 

3. WEATHER!

This was the L’Taken season of weather. We had a total of 8.9 inches of precipitation fall during L’Taken seminars this year, with several severe-weather events. From snowstorms to tornado watches, we really had it all! Everyone in attendance was able to pivot new travel plans, and we still had an incredible weekend of learning and fun, capped off with a meaningful day of meetings with offices on Capitol Hill.
 

4. CAMP GROUPS

We are really excited to have welcomed 2 delegations from URJ Camps! Participants came with URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy and URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy. It’s great to have representation from all types of groups, and we love to see them having fun with their camp friends! We can’t wait to welcome more camps in 2027!
 

5. BILLS COSPONSORED

With the 279 meetings we scheduled with offices on Capitol Hill, we certainly made an impact. Many offices shared with us that this was the first time that they had heard about a piece of legislation and were excited to get this information. Others even shared that they cosponsored legislation because they heard about it from us. These include (but are not limited to):

West Bank Violence Prevention Act

• Senator Ruben Gallego (AZ)
• Representative Angie Craig (MN-2)
• Representative Wesley Bell (MO-1)

Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act

• Representative Joaquin Castro (TX-20)

Pray Safe Act

• Senator Susan Collins (ME)

Mental Health Services for Students

• Representative Stephen Lynch (MA-8)

We hear from more offices all the time that they eventually cosponsored the bill we came to talk to them about, and even more signed on that didn’t report back to us. Our voices are so powerful!

L'Taken 2026 was an incredible season of coming together, community-building, and growing our collective power. We can’t wait to see what the next generation of Jewish social justice advocates will do with their new advocacy skills!

We're already planning for the 2027 season. Registration is already open! Join us before space runs out!