A good resource for learning about Pesach (Passover).

Here is a helpful reflection on Pesach titled: Passover: Why Redemptive Things Happen to Good People.

One of the questions from the article that I find interesting is:

Is freedom escape from pain or is it embracing our challenges and using them as a catapult for inner growth?

I would be interested to know how other people with disabilities experience the G-d of Pesach and what freedom looks like in the live of people with disabilities.

Reading this reflection and looking at the questions it poses Makes me want to share a reflection of my own:

I must first say that I am not Jewish, but as a person who identifies as a Christian with a disability I find resonance and hope in the story of the Passover. Because the Jewish community is about to begin the observance of Pesach I wanted to comment about the significance the holiday holds for me.

The story of passover has always had a resonance with me as a person who lives with a disability. The are ways people with disabilities are made disabled by the barriers communities erect. Some of these barriers include buildings without ramps and systems that do not prepare for the presence and participation of people with disabilities.

Some of the barriers to freedom also include the ways I erect barriers for myself that keep me from realizing the fullness of who G-d has called me to be.

In the light of this, I need to read and hear stories about a G-d who partners with people to overcome the ways we enslave ourselves and others. The G-d of the Passover is a G-d who hears and responds to the cries of G-d’s people.
The G-d of the passover is with us as we work to build communities where everyone, persons with and without disabilities, have opportunities to be who they are without the barriers of shame, inaccessibility, ignorance, fear, and isolation.

At Passover and everyday may we partner with G-d to be agents of liberation, hope, and possibility in communities where hopelessness too often rules the lives of too many.

What are the stories in your life that speak of the the journey you are making toward freedom?

Another helpful question may be to ask are there ways in which my actions and/or inactions are keeping others from freedom/liberation?

I am a frequent reader of “Or Am I?” a blog by Rabbi Paul Kipnes. Rabbi Kipnes. Rabbi Kipnes in the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA. I have read many posts about the congregation’s commitment to welcome people with disabilities and their families. This post was a opportunity for me to read more about Rabbi Kipnes and the congregation’s commitment to the full-inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community there.

The congregation’s web site includes a number of wonderful resources for understanding the foundation of the congregation’s commitment to people with disabilities and their families.

Congratulations to Rabbi Kipnes and the Congregation Or Ami Family on their much deserved EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award.

I am inspired by the congregation’s efforts and I hope you are too.

Do you know about a congregation or a leader that is doing wonderful things like this?

Linda Zimmerman, Executive Director of The Amit Program shared a wonderful article from Exceptional Parent Magazine. The article shares wisdom from an amazing group of leaders in Jewish Special Education.

The article titled: Programs of Acceptance and Inclusion In The Jewish Faith begins with a quote from a Jewish teacher who lived during the 1st century B.C.E., Hillel. The quote says:

If I am not for myself, who is for me?

If I am for myself, what am I?

If not now, when?

Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers)

The authors of the article go on to look at the need to provide inclusive Jewish education through the lens of the quote. The article is a wonderful resource for parents who have questions about including their children with disabilities.

The article is Co-written by:

Shelley Christensen
Dr. Sara Rubinow Simon
Debbie Gettes
Linda Zimmerman
and Arlene Remz (Check out the links!)

The article offers the perspectives of five women who are in the forefront as leaders in the field of Jewish Special Education. The collected wisdom in the article is invaluable,

A big THANK YOU to Linda for sharing the article! I hope readers gain insight and food for the journey.

Jewish Disability Awareness Month is being observed in Jewish communities and synagogues throughout the country during the month of February. Linda Zimmerman wrote a great post announcing the observance here.

I have started to hear about ways that synagogues and other organizations are raising awareness and lifting up the contributions of people with disabilities in their midst. Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs featured the following article in the most recent D’var Sinai.

Jewish Disability Awareness Month Article-Temple Sinai 2009

There have been a number of impressive resources for the observance of Jewish Disability Awareness month.  The Jewish Special Education International Consortium offers some solid resources on their web site here.  The Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism offers this blog post with links to resources.

I would love to know about ways your community is observing this important consciousness raising event? Was there a sermon given to lift up the issue? Did your community offer disability awareness training? Did you help serve people with disabilities in your neighborhood or community? Where there other ways you celebrated the gifts, skills and abilities of people with disabilities?

Please leave a comment or send and e-mail.

Praying with Lior contiues toeducate an inspore it audiences to work for the full-inclusion of people with disabilities in the full life of faith.

I posted previously about the movie here and here. I saw the film during its screening at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in January of this year. I was moved by the content of the film and deeply impressed by the filmmaker Ilana Trachtman and Lior’s father, Rabbi Mordecai Leibling.

The film is currently showing in venues across the United States and in israel too.

Ilana Trachtman has started a blog about the impact the film is having in communities.  Please go and read it and if you have an opportunity go and see the film.

I recently listened to a National Public Radio Program called Speaking of Faith. The Program featured Rabbi Sharon Brous, Rabbi and Founding Member of the IKAR Community in Los Angeles, CA. The interview centers on the meaning and practice of Judaism in the midst of the High Holy Days. I found it to be very  inspiring and informative.

You can listent to the program here.

If you heard the program I would love to know what you think?