Faith Inclusion

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…]

This week has been a challenging and uncertain one for our world. As we are unmoored by the health and economic crisis as well as temporary closures of the mainstays of our lives, the rhythms of our days feel off, and we don’t know when normalcy will return. This can be especially concerning to those of us who are Jews with disabilities, who are facing even greater unknowns. Yet, the Jewish tradition is one of continuing adaptation.

After the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the rabbis realized that the world they once knew was no more, gone overnight. How were they to move forward and preserve our ancient, precious tradition? Their solution was to make Judaism portable through the compiling and codification of the Mishnah and Gemara which we call the Talmud. This innovative spirit continues today. [continue reading…]

“Remember to look at life accurately and to utilize every moment.”

Shabbat Shalom, and a peaceful Sabbath to you all. My name is Hilla Hadas. I have been the CEO of ENOSH – the Israeli Mental Health Association – for the past 13 years. My academic background includes a Ph.D. in Life Sciences. I live in Israel and reside in the city of Modi’in, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Enosh was established 42 years ago by brave mothers who wished to support their loved ones – people with psychosocial disabilities – and their family members. Our organization has become the leading voice of people with psychosocial disabilities, fighting stigma and raising awareness. [continue reading…]

The Matan team is proud to recognize Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), by providing a free resource, which can be used year-round: Matan’s JDAIM lesson plans can be downloaded at matankids.org/jdaim-lesson-plans. These lesson plans are designed for use by congregational and Jewish day school educators. With these resources, any teacher can guide their students through important themes, interactive activities and meaningful Jewish discussions about disability. As importantly, the lessons serve as models for teachers to think about accessibility in all of their lesson planning going forward.

The lesson plans are divided into 3 sections: Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 3rd to 5th grade and Middle and High School. Each section contains various options so that an instructor can decide which is the best fit. Every lesson follows the same general format, which includes: [continue reading…]

Kick-starting the month of February and the recognition of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAAIM), President Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin of Israel met with a group of young men and women from the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) volunteer corps. The honored guests met with the president for demonstrating their unwavering willpower and determination to proudly serve their country despite their disabilities.

Among the 20 soldiers present at the reception was Liron Natan of Jerusalem, who serves at the Palmachim Air Force Base as part of Special in Uniform, the IDF’s world-acclaimed inclusion program. During the meeting, President Rivlin invited Liron to share her heartwarming story. [continue reading…]

Erev-JDAD participants

Washington, D.C., Feb. 7 – More than 80 Jewish disability advocates joined together for the inaugural Erev JDAD – the eve before Jewish Disability Advocacy Day – to discuss a variety of important topics regarding disability inclusion. Having surveyed attendees’ interests beforehand, hot topics covered twice-over were civic engagement and advocacy, leadership development, synagogue inclusion, and employment. Other topic discussions included self-advocacy, housing, fundraising, early childhood education, Jewish camping, and fighting stigmas.

While JDAD – a day of civic education and lobbying organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism – has been in existence for 10 years, this is the first formal gathering bringing some of the advocates that come in from across the country together to collaborate. Conceived by RespectAbility, the idea of Erev JDAD was to enable JDAD attendees from around the country to be able to have more time to network with each other – sharing their community’s best practices and planting the seeds for new ones. [continue reading…]

An evening of brainstorming & networking for leading voices in Jewish disability inclusion, presented by JFNA, RAC, RespectAbility and Edlavitch DCJCC.

Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD) is a tremendous gathering of people who share a commitment to Jewish inclusion.  [continue reading…]

Shabbat Shalom,

This Shabbat begins the month of February, better known to the Jewish disability world as JDAIM, Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (the “A” now stands for two words). It is a month full of activity in the Jewish world. As this Shabbat comes to a close, I will fly from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., both to attend Jewish Federation of North America’s Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD) and to co-host Erev-JDAD, a gathering the eve before, of nearly 80 JDAD attendees, to brainstorm around pressing issues facing the Jewish disability community, and to invigorate collaboration. I will report back on that in next week’s Shabbat Smile, but for this week I wanted to make a pitch to you about the importance of making sure that this work is a year-round endeavor. [continue reading…]