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Celebrating a Milestone for VAWA

By Debbie Rabinovich This week marks a major milestone for me: I am turning 18. The Big One-Eight. I love the number 18. The number 18 means that I get to vote. I can donate blood. I can go on Birthright. In Hebrew, the number 18 is the gematria for the word chai, or life. One thing I like to do on birthdays is look up the date to see what else happened on that day in history. On my own birthday, September 13th, plenty of bad things happened. The first fatal automobile accident. The death of critically acclaimed rap artist Tupac Shakur. However, one really good thing happened: the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed. VAWA is just a little bit older than me; in fact, the Act reaches a major milestone this week as well: its 20th anniversary. I am lucky to have lived my whole life in a world where our government recognizes that domestic violence is a moral abhorrence all too prevalent in our society.

Not Just GOTV: Getting DC The Right To Vote and Have Elected Representation

During election season, a time when all 50 states are choosing elected officials to represent them on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures, we cannot forget about the constituency denied access to this fundamental right: residents of the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital. The citizens of the District of Columbia lack full representation in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. However, we have reason to hope for change.  For the first time in twenty years, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will be having a full committee hearing on DC Statehood, "Equality for the District of Columbia: Discussing the Implications of S. 132, The New Columbia Admission Act of 2013” on Monday at 3 pm.

Get Out the Vote: A Guide for First-Time Voters

Election Day 2014 (Tuesday November 4) is right around the corner, and we hope that you will exercise your democratic freedom and vote in this important election! This election cycle, vital political, economic and moral issues of concern to all Americans are at stake. As Jews and American citizens, we have an obligation to vote in the elections to ensure that our country’s policies at the local, state and national levels reflect our commitment to social justice. Every vote counts and plays a defining role in setting policy agendas.

Updates from IRAC: We Won!

Great news in our struggle against the exclusion of women in Israel! We won our first class action suit! This is the first class action suit dealing with gender exclusion in Israel. The Jerusalem District Court approved our claim against the ultra-Orthodox Kol BaRama radio station for excluding women from the station's broadcasts. The court also ruled that our client, Kolech, can claim damages, as can all women who have been discriminated by this practice. The court made it very clear that the station's policy was blatantly discriminatory and that regardless of the station's target audience, the exclusion of women cannot be justified.

This School Year Not Another Shooting

The beginning of the school year for me has always been filled with the comfort of the early September winds and the coming High Holy Days. With the first day of classes brings with it new teachers, classrooms, and friends. Dipping apples in honey, smelling the musty reticence of the shofar, and walking along the beach throwing breadcrumbs give me the sense of clean slate, a new start and a new year.

Getting Rid of the Green Mile

Leading up to my first day at the RAC, I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the issues I wanted to work on. When our issue selection day finally came, I was thrilled to have the civil rights issue area in my portfolio. I had written my senior thesis about voting rights and been struggling with the criminal justice system ever since my binge-watching of The Wire. However, I never expected to spend so much time and energy engaging with the question of the death penalty. That same day, two half-brothers with mental disabilities in North Carolina, one of whom was on death row and the other of whom was serving a life sentence, were exonerated after over 30 years in prison. I was shocked and outraged. I could not even begin to imagine what it must be like to spend more than three decades in prison, waiting to be executed for a crime you did not commit. I soon found that this story is not uncommon. In fact, since 1973, over 140 people have been exonerated and freed from death row, and even more people have been executed despite serious doubts that they are innocent. The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Law School studied 86 exonerations and found that the most common reason behind wrongful convictions were eyewitness error and government misconduct by both the police and the prosecution.

Celebrating 40 Years of Rabbi David Saperstein

It was forty years ago today that one part of the landscape of American Jewish life was changed forever for the better. After a New York City goodbye party that featured a screening of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” a very eager and young Rabbi David Saperstein packed up his car and headed for the nation’s capital to begin an exciting new job, investing his life’s work in the growth and vibrancy of the Religious Action Center.

To honor David on his 40th Anniversary, we are establishing the Saperstein Legacy Fund for the Future of the RAC to serve the continuing growth and vitality of this remarkable institution - a jewel in the crown of our Reform Jewish Movement. Whatever you can contribute, whether $5 or $5,000, think what a 100% response will mean to David, to all who work at the RAC, and to the success of this campaign. Please take a moment right now to respond.

This Week at the RAC: Preparing for High Holy Days & Get Out the Vote

The new Legislative Assistants jumped into work this week and are already busy with meetings, research, writing press releases and more. Get to know the class of 2014-2015 before you meet them at the October CSA gathering. I know you’ll enjoy working with them as much as we do. This morning, the new LAs visited the Israeli Embassy and met with its Director of National Initiatives, a.k.a Katharine Nasielski (RAC LA 2011-2013). The meeting was an excellent opportunity to hear directly from Israel’s representatives in the U.S. about their priorities and interests – and an equally excellent opportunity to show off yet again the fantastic professional successes of former LAs.