“Remember to look at life accurately and to utilize every moment.” Shabbat Shalom, and a peaceful Sabbath to you all. My name is Hilla Hadas. I have been the CEO of ENOSH – the Israeli Mental Health Association – for the past 13 years. My academic background includes a Ph.D. in Life Sciences. I live [click to continue...]
The Matan team is proud to recognize Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), by providing a free resource, which can be used year-round: Matan’s JDAIM lesson plans can be downloaded at matankids.org/jdaim-lesson-plans. These lesson plans are designed for use by congregational and Jewish day school educators. With these resources, any teacher can guide their students through important [click to continue...]
Kick-starting the month of February and the recognition of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAAIM), President Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin of Israel met with a group of young men and women from the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) volunteer corps. The honored guests met with the president for demonstrating their unwavering willpower and determination to proudly serve [click to continue...]
Washington, D.C., Feb. 7 – More than 80 Jewish disability advocates joined together for the inaugural Erev JDAD – the eve before Jewish Disability Advocacy Day – to discuss a variety of important topics regarding disability inclusion. Having surveyed attendees’ interests beforehand, hot topics covered twice-over were civic engagement and advocacy, leadership development, synagogue inclusion, [click to continue...]
Shabbat Shalom, This Shabbat begins the month of February, better known to the Jewish disability world as JDAIM, Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (the “A” now stands for two words). It is a month full of activity in the Jewish world. As this Shabbat comes to a close, I will fly from Los Angeles to [click to continue...]
It’s a great time for those of us who care about people with disabilities. Our voter guide is out and you can see it and much more at www.VoteAbility.com. I also just heard from my friend and disability hero, Howard Blas who is Director-National Ramah Tikvah Network, about some very exciting projects. The first is that [click to continue...]
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. It was a powerful experience: yasher ko’ach to JCRC of NY for [click to continue...]
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 [click to continue...]
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 [click to continue...]
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, [click to continue...]
