February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month. Our clergy will devote one writing each week to the topic.
It is universally acknowledged that the cruel practice of “exposure”—leaving infants exposed to the elements to die—was common in ancient Roman times. Exposure relieved poor people of extra mouths to feed, and children who were disabled or seen as imperfect were also exposed.
Exposure was a common practice among many peoples, but not the Jews. Here’s why:
The Torah teaches that God created human beings in the image of God. In doing so, God uniquely gives human beings a Divine spark and human life is infused with infinite value. To underscore this, Maimonides writes in the Mishneh Torah (based on verses in the Talmud): “One who sees … people with disfigured faces or limbs, recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes people different.’ One who sees a person who is blind or lame, or who is covered with sores and white pustules (or similar ailment), recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who is a righteous judge.'”
It is noteworthy that Moses has a disability. The Torah records Moses saying to God, “… I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant: I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Many of our sages interpret this as Moses’ having a speech impediment.
The Torah commands, “You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God, I am Adonai” (Leviticus 19:14). In other words, do not take advantage of the deaf nor the blind.
Judaism entered a world that looked negatively upon the disabled and proclaimed that all human beings are made in God’s image and thus are to be treated appropriately.
Rabbi David Woznica
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