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New Gun Violence Prevention Law in MA: How We Helped Make it Happen
Right before my daughter was born, my husband and I took a childcare class. We were the typical expectant parents, eagerly awaiting the birth of our child, and petrified that we wouldn’t know what to do once she arrived. I expected to learn how to put on a diaper and what to do for an earache. What I didn’t expect was for the instructor to say that before I let my child go on a play date, I should ask the host family if they had a gun in the house and how they stored it. Before that, I had never actually thought about my quiet suburban neighbors touting firearms that could endanger my child.
Fast forward a couple of years to our joining Temple Israel in Boston. TI was a pioneer in using faith-based community organizing methods, and was engaging in house meetings. One emerging theme was huge concerns about teenagers experiencing stress and issues regarding their safety. And then, there was Newtown, CT. The tragedy of kindergarten children and their teachers being tragically murdered brought all of our attention to the threat of gun violence, and the threats that guns pose when used in crimes, suicides, and accidents.
Let’s Make Background Checks on Guns Universal
With seemingly near constant news headlines of mass shootings and other acts of gun violence, debate on prevention measures for public safety is critical. The issue of whether universal background checks should be required for all firearm purchases is a possible solution to decrease some of these disturbing statistics:
- One in three people in the U.S. know someone who has been shot;
- On average, 32 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 140 are treated in an emergency room for gun-related injuries;
- Every day, about 51 people take their own life with a gun and 45 people are shot or killed in a gun accident.
Mourning the Death of James Brady
Contact: Max Rosenblum or Howie Levine
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org
Speaking Out Against Sexual Violence
I entered college on the eve of the SlutWalk revolution. A 12-year-old girl had been repeatedly assaulted in Texas, and the newspaper reporting on it cited a possible motive: she was wearing makeup.
A Victory Against Hate and Violence in Israel
For the first time in Israel’s history, a rabbi has been criminally convicted on charges of incitement to violence.
The Jewish Imperative to Fight Back Against Sexual Violence on College Campuses
College students nationwide are uniting in the fight to prevent and penalize sexual attackers on their campuses.
This Purim, Make Noise to Protest Modern-Day Hamans
We know that religious freedom is not a lesson from ancient stories, but an ongoing quest even today. While many of us are fighting antisemitism in our home countries, we are also in solidarity with the Rohingya people, who have been persecuted for decades.
Global Refugee Crisis: Where We Are and How You Can Help
As we face the world’s worst global refugee crisis, the United States has failed to do all that it is capable of to support robust refugee resettlement.
Galilee Diary: The Neighbors
Whoever saves one life in Israel [i.e., of a Jew] is as if he had saved an entire world.
– Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5
Whoever saves one life is as if he had saved an entire world.
Opening a New Book: Lessons From Parashat D'varim
Chasidic tales. The foolish but pious people of Chelm. Folklore. Myths. The Jewish people is a people of storytellers. We use stories to make our points, identify moral and ethical responsibilities, and connect ourselves to an ancient tradition.