Please Join Us To Save Lives

by Adam J. Rosenbaum

Note: I am suspending the usual format of my weekly message to share with you a letter from myself and Rabbis Stephanie Alexander and Andrew Terkel of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. We wish to share an important event occurring next week.

Dear friends,

On Friday night, January 29th of this year, our congregations stood together to hear stories of lives touched by gun violence, and to join hands in stemming the bloodshed of gun violence in our state. We asked 9 people to STAND UP for the 9 lives lost to senseless gun violence at Mother Emanuel AME church last summer, and hundreds of you heeded the call to travel to Columbia, SC, at a critical juncture in our state’s legislative process.

Now we ask you to take the next step in our shared commitment to reducing gun violence in our state.

GunSenseSC is participating in a rally at the South Carolina State House on Thursday, May 12th, organized by Project Unity. Project Unity and GunSenseSC will stand together, linking arms around the State House to call for thorough background checks on all gun purchases, an extended waiting period of 28 days to purchase a gun, and stiffer penalties for violating gun laws.

Join us at the rally on Thursday, May 12th at 11:00AM, as we join hands around the State House to call for our legislators to consider the will of the 90% of South Carolinians who support universal background checks on gun purchases, and so many in our community who want reasonable gun safety measures. Join us as we honor the lives lost every day to gun violence that affects us all; black and white, men, women, and children, in small towns and big cities.

Our tradition teaches that pikuach nefesh, the saving of a life, takes precedence over almost anything else we are commanded to do. The changes that we are rallying for WILL SAVE LIVES. Nearly two children are killed every day in South Carolina. This rally is an opportunity to do pikuach nefesh, the saving of a life, on a scale that affects the entire state.

Use this link to find your State legislators and schedule a meeting with their offices while you are in Columbia. Tell them face-to-face what you care about, and ask them to Stand UP against gun violence.

We’ll see you on Thursday, May 12th at 11:00AM at the South Carolina State House when we JOIN HANDS and STAND UP against gun violence in South Carolina.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Adam Rosenbaum

Rabbi Stephanie Alexander

Rabbi Andrew Terkel

Shabbat Shalom!