Six years ago, I became visually impaired. My eyes began to bleed, and I was told the damage was permanent and there was a chance that I could go completely blind. As a Rabbi, reading is crucial to my job. There was a solution in English braille, which I started to learn. As those studies continued, I found that Hebrew braille also existed and that became my new topic of study.
Rabbis tend to ask questions. I wondered if a Hebrew braille Torah scroll existed. Although there were braille Torah books, I could not find a Sefer Torah – the scroll used for congregational readings. There were none in the United States; there were none in Europe; there were none in Israel. [continue reading…]