Faith Inclusion

I was but one of 25,000 Jews and allies who attended last Sunday’s Solidarity Rally in NYC, supporting NYC’s Jewish community during these dark days of “Jew Hating” (the recommended substitute for “anti-semitism”). Together, we marched / rolled from Foley Square across the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza Park. [continue reading…]

Harel Chait

My name is Harel Chait, and I am a person with blindness and a kidney transplant who lives in Israel. I work as a consultant, focused on web accessibility, for people with disabilities. Among my clients are corporations, government offices, and health services. I have been doing this work for about nine years, and participated on the Israeli standard team (SI 5568), addressing that issue. Additionally, I am a PhD candidate in Business Administration and Information Systems at Bar Ilan University. My academic work focuses on web accessibility and I have presented my work at a few international academic conferences. [continue reading…]

My name is Matan Koch and I am RespectAbility’s Director of Jewish Leadership. Over the next few weeks you will notice that the Shabbat Smile continues its focus on the very best practices and exemplars of Jewish inclusion. The primary goal is to bring a new substance to your Shabbats. Both the weekly messages and our soon-to-be-redesigned archive will become a go-to resource as you work to advance inclusion in your own communities. Don’t worry – we will still bring you key announcements that you need to know, along with the very best wisdom from our Jewish inclusion professionals and our expert allies at other organizations, but I see potential for something even more unique.

Last week I was privileged to attend the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial conference, proudly proclaimed to be the largest gathering of Jews in North America. As is often the case, I was invited to speak on a panel with brilliant colleagues, in this case Pamela Rae Schuller and Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe, in a session on synagogue inclusion.

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As we gear up for a light-filled holiday of menorahs with dripping candles, dreidels spinning in our surroundings, songs sung in our synagogues and homes and gifts getting wrapped for our loved ones, I want us to stop and think about another key aspect: food that we will prepare and/or share with family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.

Our traditional “go-to’s” for this holiday tend to be: latkes dolloped with applesauce and/or sour cream; chocolate gelt and babkas; and, more common in Israel, suvganiot (jelly-filled donuts).

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, “you are what you eat.” Yet how much do we think about our fellow Jews among us who are unable to eat what ‘we’ eat?  While the dietary restrictions of kashrut are culturally ‘accepted’, other dietary restrictions – in place to prevent painful or potentially life-threatening physical responses – are far less accepted. [continue reading…]

An amazingly talented Jewish filmmaker with disabilities, Aaron Wolf, has created a terrific film, Restoring Tomorrow, that will be a PBS special this Sunday night at 7:30pm (PST) in select cities. The filmmaker, Aaron Wolf, is a wonderful storyteller and a mensch. The film is about Jewish renewal, hope, and how we connect our past with the present and future. Aaron is involved with RespectAbility’s Jewish and Hollywood work in LA, and is a wonderful partner and role model. Please read this piece below that he wrote and tune in on Sunday! [continue reading…]

Shalom friend!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! With so much goodness to go around, here are several very important invitations and updates:

1. We would love for you to join us for our holiday party on Wednesday, December 4^th, from 4:00-7:00 PM. Food will be kosher and you, your family and your friends are all invited. Please RSVP here and we look forward to celebrating with you!

2. We’d love for you to participate in the 10th annual Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD) on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. RespectAbility is joining with the Jewish Federations of North America, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Jewish Disability Network. Last year JDAD, which has space for almost 300 people, still sold out months in advance – so sign up early!

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In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the death of Sarah, but more importantly we read the most fascinating exchange around the purchase of her grave plot. The people of the land on which Abraham finds himself greatly respect him and venerate him. As such they are very eager to give him the plot that he wants for free. They make no bones about the fact that they are doing favors for someone that they believed to be “a mighty prince in their midst.”

Abraham refuses this generosity, and insists on giving market value for the property. The choreography of the scene could not be clearer. They are so awed by the opportunity to do something for such a prince that they wish to do it for free, just to show respect. He not only pays, but bows low to make sure that his indication is that he means to give equivalent respect in return.

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As we prepare for Shabbat, I’m so pleased to share with you that the Project Moses website is live, at www.respectability.org/projectmoses, and that we are accepting applications. With that excitement, I’m asking for your help. For those who have not yet read about it in a previous Shabbat Smile, Project Moses is RespectAbility’s new leadership program to train talented, civic-minded Jews with disabilities to join a leadership cohort in the Los Angeles Jewish community. It is made possible by the generosity of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and other funders. We are recruiting for our first 36 participants. [continue reading…]

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