A Jewish Voice For Social Justice

An amazing experience in the offices of Congress on Monday. Each student had an opprtunity to present their lobby speeches multiple times with increased confience and poise with every reading. We were met with appreciation for having traveled all the way from Oregon to make the office visits, and were treated with a guided tour of the Capitol Building by senator Merkley's office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Representative Suzanne Bonamici

 

Advocating for Stem Cell Research

 

 

 

 

 

In Senator Wyden's Office

 

We are so proud of all the students! We packed in a ton of sights and learning experiences in our four day Washinton, DC  adventure. Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible for our Confirmation Class.

 



Lobby Prep

The class did a fantastic job today learning their issues and preparing the lobbying presentations for tomorrow! The students will be lobbying on issues of stem cell research, reproductive rights, GLBT, and ratifying a comprehensive treaty on nuclear weapons-it's going to be a big day! In between, they learned the history of the State of Israel, and participated in a lobbying simulation to help create a two state solution. A fun couple of hours on the National Mall at the American History and Air and Space museum were followed by dinner at Pentagon Row and speech writing. It looks to be a beautiful day tomorrow and we are up early with our first Senate visit at 9:30a.m.-they are well prepared!

Rabbi Sputnik Returns!

Rabbi Sputnik Returns!

 

After mysteriously disappearing since the last L'taken seminar one year ago, Rabbi Sputnik, self-taught pilot and DIY space explorer, safely landed  a Cessna  in the air and space museum today. When asked where he had been with the plane for the for the last year he simply responded "Wouldn't you like to know?" West coasters keep your eyes open for a book signing and demonstration of his new iPhone jet pack app at  a store near you. 

                                               pictured above congregant Hadassa Sputnik

"Got Sputnik?"

Chillin' at the compound

A tree that thrives in space!

 

monument or alien transmitter?

Kesef, Koach, and Politka, Money, Power, and Politics

We started the day with a pancake breakfast and a musical Shabbat morning service. After the service  the students participated in a lobbying simulation involving campaign finance reform and mountain top removal valley fill mining.  Kids divided into different lobby groups to persuade senators to vote for their group through fundraising wealthy donors, media campaigns, phone calling campaigns, creative TV commercials. and letter writing. A good warm up to our real advocacy trip to the Hill on Monday morning.

After lunch we headed into the sunshine to visit the Martin Luther King Memorial. The sunlight was stunning against the stone as was the excitement of the international tourist crowd surrounding the statue. Following, we spent a very intense two hours in the Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Rabbi Cahana led a debrief session after the visit for our students and other school groups from our bus to help everyone decompress and transition into a lighter mood as we we headed over to Georgetown for free time and dinner. Good food in Georgetown! 

After dinner we were 450 people strong at a lovely candlelight  Havdallah service at the Jefferson Memorial. We exercised our religious freedom with military helicopters above our heads, recognizing that Jefferson's commitment to the separation of church and state forged so long ago helped make our prayer service a reality today. We celebrated our religious freedom in the heart of our nation's capitol-a powerful feeling.  Arriving back at the hotel, the kids attended workshops on areas of interest from climate change to reproductive rights, from ending the spread of malaria to the challenge of ending torture and indefinite detention....whew...after that we just had to make ice cream sundaes and lighten up!

PDX to DCA Happy Landing

The taxi is here

Early morning PDX

Happy Travelers

Kabbalat Shabbat

The Challah Tastes Pretty Good

Ethics to Action

Tefilat HaDerech-Traveler's Prayer

The Confirmation class receives the Tefilat HaDerech, traveler's prayer,  from our Rabbis and and a musical blessing from all of the Midrasha students. May we be blessed as we go on our way!