Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner

When we disagree with this Administration, as we have with presidents from both parties over many decades, we do so as clearly and powerfully as we can.

On February 2, hundreds of us gathered at the seventh annual Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD),  co-sponsored by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Jewish Federations of North America, and dozens of other partners across the country. JDAD offered a unique opportunity for all Jews to unite around this issue, which affects communities across the denominational spectrum. It also helped kick off Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), an annual community-wide initiative that seeks to raise awareness and support for including people with disabilities in all facets of Jewish life.

Our tradition’s ageless and enduring call of Torah to rodeph tzedek – pursue justice – continues to inspire today’s Reform Movement. As members of the largest and most diverse Jewish denomination in North America – which includes liberals and conservatives, Democrats, Republicans and independents alike – we have a responsibility, individually and collectively, to reject hate and help heal our nation following the deeply polarizing 2016 election.

This election once again brought anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, and misogyny to the foreground of American politics and, it is up to us to push them out of the mainstream of our civic life.