While an Orthodox Jew recently elected to a Los Angeles neighborhood council will not have to break Jewish law by attending meetings on the Sabbath, she would break US law if she would drive to any on her own.
Rachel Lester, 15, has become the youngest person ever elected to a Los Angeles neighborhood council. A sophomore at the modern Orthodox Shalhevet High School, Lester was elected April 11 to represent the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, which is heavily Jewish and religious.
Her campaign relied on e-mail and Facebook, through which she contacted her friends, schoolmates, and acquaintances, and those of her parents.
She won 144 votes – her opponent, a college-educated man with children, got only 13. She credits young voters with clinching her win.
She will begin her two year term in June, and will get a lift to the monthly meetings from her mother.