I was privileged to deliver the following in a “sermon slam” for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot a few years ago. The holiday of Shavuot, literally translated as weeks, is celebrated 7 weeks after Passover, to celebrate the Revelation at Mount Sinai. Tradition teaches that every Jew, past, present, and future, stood together at Sinai [click to continue...]
We often save this space for other voices, but in addition to being the editor of this newsletter, I am also a Jew with a disability, and today I want to share with you my perspective on the power of togetherness. RespectAbility is proud to be a member of the Network of Jewish Human Service [click to continue...]
JFNA partnered with RespectAbility to host a series of convenings for all of us who are passionate about the advocacy agenda of the JDAM sessions. We gathered informally on Zoom for facilitated discussions, sharing strategies, learning from each other, and planning action steps so that together we can pursue disability justice and inclusion for all. [click to continue...]
Before we share some exciting news, we wanted to say something about the events of the past week in Washington, D.C. The violence we witnessed on Capitol Hill was awful, unacceptable and profoundly painful. What we saw happen should never have happened and should never happen again. We also know that people might be facing [click to continue...]
Talented speakers available for online conferences, educational programs and other events Los Angeles, California, Dec. 21 – Fully 1-in-4 adults has a physical, sensory, cognitive or mental health disability and people with disabilities can be the most talented people on earth. Indeed, Thomas Edison – America’s most famous inventor – was deaf. Harriet Tubman freed [click to continue...]
Those who follow the work of RespectAbility know that Lauren Appelbaum, our VP of Communications, is the incredible dynamic force behind our Hollywood Inclusion work. Lauren is also a deeply committed Jew, a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a superstar Jewish mom. It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that Jewish Women International chose Lauren [click to continue...]
As you know, a major focus of our Jewish program is providing varied venues for Jews with disabilities to enrich the Jewish community with their talent. A critical facet of the Jewish experience is artistic expression through: music, visual arts, dance, photography, creative writing and poetry. As a people, we have celebrated many great poets: Emma Lazarus (“Give [click to continue...]
Election Day came, Election Day went. Each American experienced the ensuing, nail-biting days differently. We are delighted that several disability allies – from both parties – won their races. We look forward to partnering with them and others in the future. Disability or no disability, the voting process during a pandemic was a feat. This feat was [click to continue...]
In this week’s Shabbat Smile, Matan Koch, Director of Jewish Leadership at RespectAbility, and Benjamin Rosloff, a Jewish Inclusion Fellow in our National Leadership Program, talked about Ben’s new idea for a multimedia series, “What Do You Pray For?!” The idea builds off of Ben’s work filming a young boy’s bar mitzvah a few years [click to continue...]
Though tonight begins Shmini Atzeret, this week RespectAbility joyously celebrated Sukkot with a gathering in our virtual sukkah. HUC student and Jewish advisory committee member Rachel Rothstein taught us about the holiday. She opened with upbeat Israeli music, reminding us that the rabbis called Sukkot “the time of our joy”. After performing the ritual of [click to continue...]
