Temple Judea hosts Moms Demand Action

The Island Now
(Captions for photo: Alicia Munves, Laura Burns, Rabbi Chizner, Josephine Peterson and Rita Marcus)

At a recent Shabbat service, the Social Action Committee of Temple Judea hosted two representatives from Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.

The Social Action Committee chairs, Alicia Munves and Rita Marcus, introduced Laura Burns, one of the founding members of Moms Demand Action.

Burns addressed the congregation, vividly describing the origins of the movement, which was created immediately after the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 where 27 young schoolchildren, teachers and other staff members at the school were senselessly murdered by a lone gunman.

Burns gave a moving description of the momentum of getting started in this endeavor. She told how a small group of women on Long Island, shocked by the horror of this event, immediately got together to start a campaign.

Their first project was a planned walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. There were just the few of them, but when they arrived for their walk they were surprised that one thousand people showed up to participate!

This started a nationwide movement that is growing and now has groups in all 50 states, with over 6 million members fighting for gun sense legislation at local, state-wide and national levels.

Rabbi Todd Chizner warmly welcomed the Moms Demand Action representatives as he recalled the Biblical admonishment in Isaiah 2:4: “____and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”

Temple Judea is located at 333 Searingtown Road in Manhasset (off exit 36 north on LIE) and can be reached at (516) 621-8049 or www.temple-judea.com.

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