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Praying With Our Feet
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10
April 5 • 2018
jn
wo weeks ago, I was
Over the past few weeks, people
approached by several teens
keep telling me how impressed
in my congregation asking us
they are with this generation of
to take them to D.C. for the March
charismatic, dynamic, engaged
for Our Lives. They felt called to be
teens. I know. I work with charis-
part of this movement — to
matic, dynamic, engaged
support the young people
teens every day. Instead
calling for a revolution, prov-
of bemoaning their con-
ing themselves to be power-
stant selfies, we should be
ful change agents harnessing
energized by their native
the momentum in the wake
understanding of the world
of the massacre in Parkland.
in which we live, where
And they were waking up
Twitter is their microphone
in the middle of the night
and Instagram is photojour-
Rabbi Jen Lader
drenched in sweat, having
nalism.
nightmares of being hunted
As adults, it is now our
and murdered in their class-
responsibility to step back
rooms.
so that our youth can rise
“Please take us,” they said.
up. We can pat ourselves
We thought we’d take 10 students.
on the back for raising such conten-
Maybe 15. But when we announced
tious, thoughtful young people who
the trip, the response was over-
are changing the world. We are priv-
whelming. We ended up with 50. We ileged to witness their power and
maxed out the plane.
to support them on their journey.
In our religious school and our
To empower them, to hear them, to
youth group, and in the halls of our
trust them and to encourage them
temple, we teach our children that
to live out the values we have been
as Jews, it is our responsibility to
teaching them throughout their lives
stand up for those without a voice.
— to speak up and speak out for
As Jews, it is essential to our faith to
what is right and what is true.
fight for justice and change. As Jews,
As we walked through the streets
we know what it means to have lives of D.C., arms linked, buzzing with
slip through our fingers while the
excitement, reading the signs held
world stands idly by.
by Americans of all ages and reli-
And so we marched, supported
gions and colors and races, one of
by our clergy and leadership, along-
my teens pulled me close. She whis-
side hundreds of thousands of other
pered to me, “This is amazing. I’m so
youth from across the nation who
glad we’re here. But instead of wait-
were committed to being on the
ing around for politicians to hear us,
right side of history. We marched
I think I’ll just run for office in a few
for the victims of gun violence and
years and change the laws myself.”
for the politicians who are blind
This is the future. And I, for one,
and mute. We prayed with our feet,
can’t wait. •
spending our day of rest pounding
Jen Lader is a rabbi at Temple Israel in West
the pavement, as our dreams for a
Bloomfield.
better tomorrow were at the fore-
front of our minds.