We have a rule in our house: no phones at the table.

We made the rule to preserve family time and keep technology out. It wasn’t until Friday night that I realized our rule yields something else - a safe haven from the onslaught of bad news, even if only for 30 min.

1/x #thread

But, with #RoshHashanah and so many more life events taking on new forms this year, the rule was not enforced on Friday night. And so it was that we lost the safe family space of erev #RoshHashanah2020 & Shabbat dinner by the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. #RBG 2/x

Shock, numbness, and immediate deal-with-that-later. That’s what I felt, in that order, in a matter of seconds. Our children are 4 and 6. They deserve a happy Rosh Hashana dinner focused on welcoming a sweet new year. The adults do, too.

#RBG 3/x

After the festive meal and after the children were asleep, “later” arrived. #RBG 4/x

Losing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is profound and heartbreaking. It would be so at any moment, and it is particularly so at *this* moment. I studied her work a bit in college, and much more in depth in law school. #RBG 5/x

Words cannot express what it meant to me to know — to see — that a Jewish girl from Brooklyn could make it all the way to the Supreme Court. #RBG #SCOTUS 6/x

She and I had something critical in common: a drive to pursue the law as a tool for positive social change, derived from our Jewish heritage. The shared story among us and our ancestors of overcoming hatred and bigotry because of our identity. #RBG 7/x

I met her once, not because I was a law student or a lawyer or even a State Senator, but because I performed Israeli dancing at an event in Washington for a Jewish organization. I remember vividly this woman, small in stature yet giant in justice and jurisprudence. #RBG 8/x

There is a famous phrase in the Torah, “justice, justice, thou shalt pursue.” She pursued it. She created it where previously it did not exist. She fought for it even in her dying breaths. #RBG 9/x

I believe in my heart of hearts that the electoral work we‘ll do today + every day btn now and Nov. 3 is part of that pursuit of justice. These days after her passing are hard. As we move forward w/ the hard, as we get the work done, we honor her memory and her legacy. #RBG 10/x

May her memory be a blessing.
May her memory be an inspiration.
May her memory be a motivation.

#RBG 11/x

We have not yet achieved RBG’s ultimate vision, but we are much farther along the path because of her advocacy, her teaching, her scholarship, and her service on the Court. #RBG 12/x

If you, like me, have benefitted from the unearned privilege of standing on Justice Ginsburg’s shoulders and the shoulders of her decades-long work to achieve justice and equity, or if you know someone who has derived that benefit, ... #RBG 13/x

...take the time you need to mourn and then GET TO WORK.
We’ve got 44 days. Just 44 days until the election of our lifetimes. Get to work to elect #BidenHarris, flip the flippable US Senate seats (pro tip: not KY - HT @FiveThirtyEight: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/senate/), and...
#RBG 14/x

... for the sake of all that is still good, please give serious support to competitive state legislative races. Real, substantive #progress can be — and often is — accomplished at the state level. #RBG 15/x

In many state legislative races, voters have a choice btn one candidate who will actively champion and fight for critical bills on #ReproductiveJustice, #immigrant rights, #ClimateAction , infectious disease prevention, + racial equity, and another candidate who — won’t. #RBG 16/x

That’s my re-election race exactly. I’d be honored + grateful to earn some of your state legislative support. I pushed for and achieved progress in my first term; I drew a GOP challenger because of it.

Donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/beccarausch?refcode=rgb
Volunteer: http://www.beccarausch.com/volunteer 

#RBG 17/x

44 days. It’s #GoTime. Get on the phones, texts, and postcards. #LetsGetItDone, together.

#RBG #BackBecca #MApoli #democracy

PS - I didn’t plan for this #thread to be 18 tweets. It just worked out that way. #chai #life #hope

18/18