Faith and Spirituality

ALEH residents with disabilities watching a video of a children’s book being read aloud

As COVID-19 continues to claim the lives of multitudes around the globe, we have responded with serious introspection and copious goodwill, transforming into the very best versions of ourselves – more grateful, helpful, compassionate and empathetic than ever before.  Surprisingly, we have also effectively proven that we possess the skills, resources and creativity to remove all communal roadblocks for individuals with disabilities and that a truly inclusive society is entirely within our reach.

One of the most obvious examples is the ease with which our world went virtual.  In a matter of days, everything from board meetings to birthday parties were being attended via video conference, as people of all ages began engaging online, and we quickly learned that virtual participation was considerably more effective than we once thought. [continue reading…]

We all see the news – the deaths, the job losses, the pain. It’s all very hard on our families, communities and even our souls. But what is even more important is the tremendous effort to save lives. Some of this, like the heroic work of first responders, makes the news. But much of the quiet battle does not. I’d love to share with you some important work that RespectAbility has accomplished in conjunction with our allies in the Jewish and disability communities, and some predictions we are offering about the future.

The first phase of this crisis in the United States found us at RespectAbility: [continue reading…]

Founded in 1948, Israel’s accessibility for people with disabilities was not a top priority.  I recall several almost comical incidents from nearly 20 years ago when helping people with disabilities navigate Israel.  On one group trip, while pushing 20-something Rivka in a wheelchair in northern Israel, the sidewalk abruptly ended. We carried her in the wheelchair to where sidewalk eventually continued.  In the Old City, near the Kotel, I asked soldiers where was the accessible path. They lifted Rivka up the steps in her wheelchair.

Fortunately, Israel today is fairly accessible and straightforward: from riding buses, to shopping in grocery stores, to studying in university. Modern Israel has become a well-known destination for accessible travel.

Israel’s road to accessibility has been a journey. Physical accessibility doesn’t happen automatically; nor does shifting attitudes toward people with disabilities and accessibility. [continue reading…]

Today as we observe Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we think of the 6 million Jews and 5 million others, including people with disabilities, who were targeted for extermination in Nazi Germany.  It is easy to delude ourselves into thinking that all of the perpetrators of this horrific genocide were simply uniquely evil, and that somehow that generation of Germans disproportionately reflected the worst of humanity. And yet, that’s really not true, is it? Hitler was evil. Eichmann and the Nazi Party’s leaders were evil. But we must ask ourselves how they managed to sway a population of generally decent people into at best ignoring – and in many cases participating in – the mass destruction of fellow humans. [continue reading…]

During the 49-day `Counting of the Omer,’ we traditionally retrace our ancestors’ seven-week spiritual journey from Exodus to Sinai each evening. Typically together, we count the days until the 50th day, Shavuot, when we commemorate and joyfully celebrate the Giving of the Torah at Sinai. This year, however, in a manner unprecedented in a century, we are additionally ‘counting days’ in a most precarious, daunting, and totally unfamiliar manner.  As we hold our dear families close to our hearts and close in our homes we count the days – yet without any tangible, identified end to the nightmare of this cruel and excruciating pandemic.

For how many days…or months will we be counting until we return to joyous and fulfilling lives of inclusion within the fabric of our Jewish communities?  And even when we gradually do cease counting the horrid days of the past and begin a gradual return to a semblance of normalcy,  we will forever be counting the losses of beloved family members, friends, colleagues, synagogue congregants and neighbors of all ages, and cherishing the lives lost among the heroic frontline workers, both familiar and unfamiliar. [continue reading…]

Traditionally, during the Passover seder, we ask four questions, starting with the well-known refrain “mah nishtanah ha’layla ha’zeh mi’kol ha’leylot: why is this night different from all other nights?” This year, there are far more than the traditional four answers to this query.

We are, right now, living in a time of challenge and hardship, a new “mitzraym” or narrow place for all of us, with a deliverance that will come not just before dinner served, but at an uncertain time in the future. We don’t know when we will be fully free of coronavirus. We do know that we can each be a part of the redemption of each other’s challenges, especially those faced by people with disabilities, and by others who, due to income or otherwise, lack adequate housing and food. It is a time when our global community, physically distant, is called to come together in spirit, to unify in an expression of our gratitude for what we have, and to support those who need it most. [continue reading…]

With Passover right around the corner, we would normally be planning on gathering around the table for a Seder with our loved ones. We read from our Haggadah, celebrate, and give thanks for the liberation of our people from oppression. This gratitude might feel difficult, however, with the current COVID-19 plague looming overhead. Instead of being brought together, we are embracing “social distancing.” The isolation becomes its own oppression, making many search for the freedom of celebrating the holiday with the community.

JOIN US!

To make Passover accessible to people with disabilities, RespectAbility along with partner organizations is creating a virtual Kehila (Community) specifically geared toward people with intellectual disabilities. This will kick-off with a tailored Passover Seder which will be a fun, engaging, and informative time for all involved. The Seder will take place on Monday, April 13, 2020, at 7:00pm Eastern time, or 4:00pm Pacific time. All are welcome and you can join this Seder by clicking here to register. We at RespectAbility want to wish you all a wonderful Pesach and look forward to seeing you all on Monday the 13th. [continue reading…]

Lily Coltoff

Erdenheim, Pa., Mar. 27 – As I sit in my childhood home outside of Philadelphia in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, now almost two weeks after having been uprooted from my “new” life I was starting in DC, it seems only natural that my mind should wander to happier, “easier” times – many of which only happened one month ago. Four weeks ago, COVID-19 was just coming on our radar, having had only just jumped from the international pages to the bottom of the front page. My mind was elsewhere – primarily focused on Jewish disability advocacy.

It’s strange to think that, right now, I’m working in a field that, only a few short years ago, I had absolutely no idea existed. [continue reading…]

Matan Koch

I am a proud Jew. I am also a 38-year-old quadriplegic with asthma. Millions of Americans – myself included – are at high risk from the virus and from medical rationing. Sadly, the de facto devaluation of disabled lives in healthcare is nothing new, but there is a current push to make it policy. It is always hard to determine the best way to allocate scarce resources, but Jewish tradition teaches that every life is of incalculable worth. Doctors will have to make enough tough choices, about who is likely to survive, and already will have to make the terrible judgment about who can survive without say, a ventilator, and who will die even if they have one.

Let us not compound this challenge by asking our doctors to place subjective value on individual lives, both because it is unfair to them and because any such subjectivity would necessarily disadvantage those whose life experience is very different from that of the doctor, including people with disabilities. After accounting for likelihood of survival, first-come first-served is the only rational way to decide between two lives of incalculable value. [continue reading…]