RJ Blog

It’s May. Can you believe it? Every year it seems to sneak up on me. But here it is. Most synagogues and Jewish professionals are at the point in the year that I typically call the “race to the finish line.” We are busy completing our program years, winding down religious schools and looking toward Shavuot as a point where we might briefly catch our breath; all while planning for next year by finalizing calendars and budgets. We can probably agree that the much anticipated summer months will allow us a chance to regroup, reflect and start it all over [...]

At NFTY Convention, we presented a program about inclusion of teens on the Autism Spectrum in our NFTY community. We take a moment to reflect on the program and our ongoing initiative.

Most of the time I see the Jewish world through my Jewish Special educator lens. For me, last week’s NFTY Convention and Youth Engagement Conference were no exception. Three significant things happened: 1.  Rabbi Rick Jacobs spoke of special needs and Jewish Disability Awareness Month from the bimah on Shabbat morning.  He shared the bimah with Evan Traylor, NFTY President, and the focus of their d’var Torah was the gifts that each of us has to offer. (Read the entire d’var Torah here.) Here is a portion of what he said about special needs education:

Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Rick Jacobs and NFTY President Evan Traylor delivered a joint D’var Torah during Saturday morning T’fillah at last weekend’s NFTY Convention and Youth Engagement Conference, which run concurrently. An abridged text and full video of their address follows; you can also find the full text of Rabbi Jacobs Friday night d’var Torah, “On Top of the World,” here.

by Shelly Christensen In parashat Bo, “Moses held out his arm toward the sky and thick darkness descended upon all the land of Egypt for three days. People could not see one another. For three days no one could move about; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings.” God hardened Pharoah’s heart again leading up to the final plague. While the light glowed for the Israelites, the Egyptians were bound by darkness. It must have been terrifying to live in the thick, enveloping darkness. Imagine living in another kind of darkness; darkness where the light of God never [...]

Since starting my blog, Jewish Special Needs Education, I realize that I am noticing inclusion – and the absence of inclusion – all the time. It kind of reminds me of being pregnant and noticing other pregnant woman everywhere you go! But more on this in a moment. I spent this Shabbat in Los Angeles at the URJ Youth Engagement Conference and NFTY Convention. To be honest, I was a little bit skeptical about coming to the conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a full-time educator, my role is certainly one of engaging our youth. I understand the value [...]

Recently I had the good fortune to offer a workshop for educators that I called, “Parents as Partners: Working with Parents in Jewish Special Needs Education.” I was well aware, from the start of the workshop, that the educators assembled wanted pointers on how to handle difficult conversations with parents. They were eager to help their students, but seemed to feel great apprehension around how to potentially develop open and supportive communication with parents. Open and supportive communication with parents is essential for a successful Jewish supplemental school experience for any child, especially those with special learning needs. However, my [...]

At Temple Beth-El, we are very fortunate to have a student in our program who is blind. Braille is one of the coolest things I have ever seen (no pun intended), and Hebrew Braille is even cooler. (Note: The Jewish Braille Institute, JBI, will put all of your materials, including textbooks, into Braille for free. They rock!) Facilitating this student’s Jewish education enables me to revisit both my personal and our congregation’s commitment to inclusion over and over again… and I couldn’t appreciate it more!” More than anything else, I have learned that simply accommodating a student’s needs is not [...]

by Naomi J. Brunnlehrman In celebration of February as Jewish Disability Awareness Month, The Jewish Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Resource Center (JDRC) was asked to share some thoughts about the meaning of this month. As the co-founder of JDRC, I recognize that while everyone has good intentions when highlighting access throughout this month, the reality is that when February is over and the excitement of access has faded, we too often go back to the same Jewish world we lived in before February began. In order for us to envision our Jewish organizations as fully accessible, we first need to change [...]

by Rabbi Robin Nafshi Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, N.H., has a membership of about 210 families. And like all other communities both large and small, a number of our students have physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Our philosophy is to do all we can to provide maximum access for all of our members. One of our religious school students is Jacob, whose mother has said it’s fine to use his real name here. Jacob has detachment disorder, environmental autism, language delay, and rage issues – and he has been in our religious school since kindergarten. At no time have we [...]

The Connecticut Jewish Ledger recently profiled the Religious Action Center‘s Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Senior Adviser on Disability Issues, in advance of her speaking engagement early next month at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport. In it, Rabbi Landsberg makes a powerful and personal case for the Jewish community’s role in fighting for the rights of people with disabilities:

by John Shalett In my role as MRJ Executive Council Member and member of the URJ Commission on Outreach, Membership and Caring Communities I am dedicated to helping our members to help to build and to benefit from congregational communities that help each of us to feel strengthened, needed and supported. In a meaningful and positive manner. Men of Reform Judaism is working closely with Rabbi Edythe Mencher, Caring Congregations Specialist, in efforts to create greater awareness and sensitivity to both individual and family concerns that effect and potentially take a great toll on each of us as family members. [...]

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 [...]