jews d
in
the
Praying
With Their Feet
Detroit teens join marches
in Washington, D.C., and
Downtown Detroit.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
TOP: Berkeley High School
students were greeted by U.S.
Rep. Sander Levin, center, and his
staff in Washington, D.C.
RIGHT: Jessica Goldberg, 16,
exercises her First Amendment
rights in Washington, D.C.
C
ontinuing the legacy of Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel from the great civil rights marches in
the 1960s, Jews from Metro Detroit prayed with
their feet here and in the nation’s capital by participat-
ing in the historic student-led March for Our Lives on
March 24 calling for safer schools, tighter gun control
laws and an end to gun violence.
What started out as a proposed trip planned for
10 Temple Israel teens ballooned into one for 50
participants complete with heavily-subsidized over-
night flights to Washington, D.C., thanks to generous
donations from temple members and the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Rabbi Jen Lader said the idea to take the trip to
Washington was initiated by students, completely
supported by Temple Israel’s board and clergy, and
was a Shabbat experience that spoke to Reform
Judaism’s core mission of pursuing social justice.
The weekend included a Shabbat evening service at
Washington Hebrew Congregation and then an even
larger morning service in a hotel ballroom near the
march route. Lader said all the weekend’s events, from
the religious services led by some 3,000 Reform youth
group members to the speakers on the podium, were
led and organized by teens.
“I could not believe how quickly and easily this trip
came together, and that speaks to temple’s commit-
ments to teen empowerment and social justice,” Lader
said. “The teens came to us and wanted to do this, to
march and to raise up our voices for those who do not
have voices; and the clergy and board felt it was our
job to shepherd them there. As Reform Jews, what we
experienced in Washington on a Shabbat morning is
what we are all about.”
Lader was grateful for the hospitality of
Washington-area families who opened their homes
and provided the teens with snacks and other ame-
continued on page 16
14
March 29 • 2018
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