In 2009, the Jewish Special Education International Consortium established February as Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion month. Over the past 13 years, JDAIM has become a unified national initiative—during the month of February—to raise disability awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion in Jewish communities worldwide.
In Israel, the seats at the front of the bus—reserved for the elderly or those with disabilities—have over them the words: מִפְּנֵ֤י שֵׂיבָה֙ תָּק֔וּם, a quote from the Book of Leviticus (19:32), which translate to: “You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old.” I’ve always loved the merging of the ancient with the modern, the use of our Biblical instructions to guide our 21st century choices.
This verse appears in the section of the Torah known as the Holiness Code, and just verses before, we find perhaps the most direct teaching our Torah has to offer about disability and inclusion:
לֹא־תְקַלֵּ֣ל חֵרֵ֔שׁ וְלִפְנֵ֣י עִוֵּ֔ר לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן מִכְשֹׁ֑ל וְיָרֵ֥אתָ מֵּאֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃
“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
While there are certainly spiritual components and interpretations of this teaching, there is also the pshat—or practical—understandings, as well. As a Jewish community, Wise is committed to increasing accessibility to our campus and our offerings. Whether it is offering hearing-assisted devices in all our worship venues, a built-in lift to our Main Sanctuary bimah, or working on an effective caption system for our online services, we are proud of the work that our team is doing to make sure that we remove as many stumbling blocks to participation as we can. At the same time, we know that there is more work to do, and we are committed to improving accessibility and inclusion in as many ways as we can. If you have any accessibility concerns or ideas, please let us know.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer