RJ Blog

by Andi Rosenthal Four years ago, at the age of 37, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It was the souvenir of a long, near-fatal, crushing bout with MRSA that didn’t respond to anything until I was given a three-month course of twice-daily, intravenous antibiotics. These finally did the trick, but what the specialists didn’t tell me was that when antibiotics are given the task of wiping out an infection, they often take your immune system down in the process. Already prone, via heredity, to the autoimmune disorders that run rampant throughout both sides of my family tree, RA was [...]

by Rabbi Alice Goldfinger Apparently it is February and February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month. I now know this because a couple of rabbi friends who take this matter seriously emailed me their sermons on the subject. It feels a little strange that it is my month, if you will, and I did not receive an invitation. I wonder if other disabled people, the really obvious ones missing legs and stuff got invited and my name just didn’t make it onto the list? Or maybe there is no list? There should be a list. If I was the Dalai Lama [...]

by Marissa Frankel, MS Ed February 2012 is the 4th Annual Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month. A month dedicated to raising awareness and expanding the inclusiveness of the Jewish community. URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camps is dedicated to creating a more inclusive community, and several years ago began the planning for a camp for children with special needs. On August 21, 2011 just days after second session wrapped, URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camp’s newest program, Camp Chazak, began its inaugural summer. Camp Chazak is a one-week program for children with various special needs, giving them the opportunity to have [...]

by Susan Wiener I can still remember the day, my daughter Tracey ran into the house and announced my neighbor, Nancy, would like Jacob to be Adam’s mitzvah project for his bar mitzvah. Before I could even open my mouth and scream NO, my father, who was visiting, quietly said “be nice, say ok”.  I swallowed my words and said “ok”. But it wasn’t.  Next time I went to my synagogue I saw my Rabbi and tried to rationalize this request, but ended up pleading with him to agree with me “my son is not a mitzvah project”.  In the [...]

by Paula Krone and Michael Faber Like most parents, from the time we gave birth to our son, we had many hopes and dreams for him. We wanted him to have a good education, have friends and grow up to live a happy and prosperous life. We also had dreams of our child being brought up in the Jewish religion, and we hoped our child would embrace all that Judaism has to offer. Of course, we had hoped that he would pass some part of ourselves, including our Jewish heritage, to his children. It wasn’t long after Benjamin Avi was [...]

by Shelly Christensen February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month (JDAM) which was founded in 2008 by the Jewish Special Education Consortium. The Union for Reform Judaism actively supports JDAM and encourages congregations to raise awareness and continue to navigate the journey of inclusion of people with disabilities throughout the year.

by Deborah GreeneTemple Beth Tikvah, Roswell, GA(originally posted on Puzzled) “Two great things you can give your children: one is roots, the other is wings.”(Hodding Carter) It is said that, “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” (Havelock Ellis) It is, to be sure, a balancing act for every parent. We wish to give our children the opportunities to grow, to become more independent and forge out their own path in this world. Yet, we want to protect them, keep them safe and shield them from harm, hurt and the inevitable [...]

by Rabbi Rebecca Yaël SchorrOriginally posted on Frume Sarah’s World A family-favorite Passover song, to the tune of “Clementine,” introduces them. One was wise and one was wicked,One was simple and a bore. And the fourth was sweet and winsome,he was young and he was small.While his brothers asked the questionshe could scarcely speak at all. (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons) But what about the fifth child? At our recent model seder, as the rabbi was exploring possiblereasons for the four cups of wine we drink at the seder, a student beganto wave frantically, jumping out of her seat with agitation. Typicalbehaviour [...]

by Rabbi Marc A. GruberCentral Synagogue of Nassau County, Rockville Center, NYOriginally published in Torah at the Center As the parents of two children, who are now young adults, with learning disabilities, my wife and I have spent decades battling with educational establishments. At times this included the synagogue where I served as rabbi. I hope our experiences help readers approach families in which a member is a person with a disability in more helpful and supportive ways. Families in our congregations are often battle weary and want our synagogues to be a safe haven and a refuge of normalcy. [...]

by Larry KaufmanMember, RJ Blog Editorial Board As regular readers of this blog know, the blog, and the Reform Movement, are currently focusing special attention on accessibility issues, and numerous posts have indicated that accessibility means more than ramps and grab bars and large-type siddurim – it also means hospitality and compassion and inclusiveness.  February is a good month to have as wide-ranging a theme as we do, because it is one month in which we don’t have to devote any space to holiday observance.  We have Tu B’shvat behind us and Purim and then Passover ahead of us, but [...]

by Annette PowersURJ Communications Manager CongregationRodeph Sholom is one of 20 congregations awarded a URJ IncubatorGrant for their SpecialNeeds Worship Services, designed to provide families and children with specialneeds the opportunity to worship together in an accessible, inclusive, andsensitive environment.  Created in conjunction with a consultant from Music forAutism, this congregation’s experience will be a guide to inclusive worship forcongregations across the Movement.  Last week I sat down with Congregation Rodeph Sholom’sSenior Rabbi Robert N. Levine, Co-Chair of the Special Needs Committee GinaLevine and Membership Coordinator Nadine Kochavi to discuss this groundbreakinginitiative. AP: Congratulationson winning the URJ Incubator Grant! How [...]

by Amy Gold, Director of Curriculum and InstructionMatthew King, Ed.D., Head of SchoolRabbi Ellen Pildis, School Rabbi and Director of Jewish Studiesand David Rosenberg, Assistant to Head of School and Third Grade TeacherThe Rashi School, Dedham, Massachusetts Originally published in Torah at the Center In Judaism, the process of how we educate has never been taken for granted. As early as 64 C.E., Yehoshua ben Gamla was writing about best practices. Who should be teaching, and whom they should be teaching? How many students are appropriate per group? At what age should students travel to a central location or be educated [...]

by Neil Jacobson Imagine that one of the missions of our religious school is ‘to teach all students how they can have a unique and significant role in Tikkun Olam and their community’. Both my wife, Denise, and I have significant Cerebral Palsy, a disability which causes us to have slurred speech, use powered wheelchairs to get around, and necessitates that we do activities of daily living in creative ways. The time I felt the most accepted was when our son, David, was a baby. Since Denise took care of him all day while I worked, I had night duty. [...]

By Deborah Gettes, Specialist, Special Needs Education Specialist, Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education/Jewish Outreach Partnership, Melrose Park, PennsylvaniaOriginally published in Torah at the Center How do I ask the director to give the child some room to calm down before confronting the situation?  Is it OK to sacrifice learning time to change the child’s behavior? For how long and how often? These thoughtful questions came not from experienced teachers but from teenagers who work in their synagogue school in the Teen Assistant Program (TAP), a program proudly sponsored by the Auerbach Central Agency. Approximately 20 teens participate in a [...]