From January 9-12, the Confirmation Class of Temple Hesed joined with nearly 300 other Jewish teenagers from all across the country in the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism's L'taken Political Action Seminar. These seminars, which Rabbi Swartz from Temple Hesed designed and ran when he was at the Religious Action Center from 1993-1996, educate thousands of Jewish teenagers each year about how to connect their Jewish values to current social and political issues. The students learned through simulations, discussions, hearing from nationally noted Jewish and other leaders and, on Monday the 12th, went to Capitol Hill to discuss what they learned with Congressional staff. The students from Temple Hesed focused on the security of Israel, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, climate change and energy policy, providing access to the disabled, and combatting discrimination against same-sex couples. They raised these issues when they spoke with staff members in Senator Specter's, Senator Casey's, and Representative Carney's offices. In each of the offices, the staff members commented that these students were more prepared and informed about the issues they cared about than many professional lobbyists. In addition to studying current political and social issues, the students went through the Holocaust Museum, where they learned about the importance of speaking out against evil. They toured the recently reopened Smithsonian Museum of American History, where they saw the original Star-Spangled Banner, learned about American involvement in wars from the American Revolution to the conflict in Iraq, saw a presentation on the first sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, and got to read the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's own handwriting. They also saw all the preparations underway for the inauguration of President Obama.