The 26 people killed in the Newtown, Conn. shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School were remembered in a special memorial during Shabbat services at Temple Israel on Dec. 21.

Congregants and clergy lit 26 candles in memory of the 20 children and six adults slain at the Connecticut school on Dec. 14.

Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, the temple’s spiritual leader, asked congregants to write letters to President Obama expressing their support of federal gun control laws and revision the nation’s mental health system. The letters will be delivered to the president by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola).