Twenty-seven students from the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School participated in a very unique leadership opportunity that focuses on civic issues through a Jewish lens called Panim el Panim. This program is run under the auspices of BBYO. Other participating schools included: Akiva H.S., Heschel School, Denver Jewish Day School, HAFTR, Ida Crown, North Shore and the Schaeck Community School. Kushner by far had the largest delegation.

Highlights included a debate on healthcare given by The Urban Institute and the Republican Jewish Coalition; “Faces of the Homeless”–an actual first-hand account from a homeless person; policy sessions on gun control; community service projects throughout the DC area, and an address given by the former White House Special Assistant Liason to the Jewish Community from the Clinton administration Jay Footlik, as well as Adam Teitelbaum, who is the Deputy Leadership Director of AIPAC. The program culminated with a lobbying session up on Capitol Hill with Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen.

By Rabbi Richard Kirsch