Parkland School Shooting Survivors Travel To NYC For Chabad Youth Summit

Survivors of the Parkland shooting are seen on a screen in Times Square signing a “Unity Torah” during Chabad’s CTeen festival. Image by Facebook

By Ari Feldman February 26, 2018

Three students who survived the shooting earlier this month at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida traveled to New York City over the weekend to take part in Chabad’s annual youth festival, the New York Post reported.

The students were part of roughly 2,500 teenagers who attended Chabad’s CTeen meeting, held in Brooklyn. The students signed a “Unity Torah” over the weekend at a portion of the summit held in Times Square.

“I’m going to light some candles for my friend Gina, and I’m going to make challah [bread] every week,” said Lauren Berg, 14. Her friend Gina Monalto was one of 17 people killed during the shooting.

Maverick Reynolds, another Stoneman Douglas student, said that being at the summit “helps me see that everybody actually cares and wants to help out.”

“It’s not about going to New York for a weekend; it’s about going to a place with other kids their age who will support and encourage them, and hopefully, provide strength to move forward,” Rabbi Shaya Denburg, director of youth programs at Chabad of Coral Springs, told Chabad.org.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

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