National Leadership Program, Spring 2023
Noah Strauss
Noah Strauss (they/them) was a Faith Inclusion and Belonging Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2023. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.
Strauss is an organizer, educator, writer, and a graduate student in Judaism and Human Rights at Gratz College. They have been teaching 4th & 5th grade Jewish history at Jewish Children’s Folkshul for five years. They have developed and implemented an ASL curriculum. They are interested in pursuing the rabbinate and focusing on chronic illness and disability.
Strauss helped to create the National Access & Disability Justice team at Never Again Action, which develops guides for accessible in person and virtual actions, facilitates training workshops on accessibility and disability justice, and hosts disabled speakers. They have also consulted on accessibility for Jewish Voice for Peace and Tzedek Lab.
Strauss is an alum of the Bend the Arc Jeremiah community organizing fellowship and the Repair the World Service Corps. They are also an alum of Mayyim Hayyim’s Rising Tide Mikveh guide training with a dream of creating accessible Mikveh.
Strauss’ work has been featured in Jewish Currents, New Voices, Lilith, The Forward, and Jewschool. Their writing about disability is featured on Disability Visibility.
This past fall, Strauss taught a class through Hebrew College called Plagues & Prophets in Performance, focused on chronically ill and disabled characters as prophetic figures during plague. The course included study of Angels in America, Rent, The Normal Heart, and the book of Jeremiah.
Strauss is creating a multi faith community in ASL using a viral disability justice-centered TikTok account. Currently, it hosts Shabbat, Havdalah, and other holiday services.
