Be Jewish Together

Worship is part of who we are as Jews and the Miami Jewish Abilities Alliance is dedicated to elevating all the ways we worship and celebrate our Judaism. There’s nothing about any type of disability by itself that prevents worship. Yet, holiday celebrations, community gatherings and family traditions can underline barriers to participation. Disability creates in house, in body adaptation – but isn’t that true in all families, disability or neurotypical? To some degree or another we all shape our participation to meet our family’s needs and those needs change over time and with circumstances. COVID is a strong example of adaptation. Many of us used tech to bring our families together for holidays, weddings and brit milot.  Sadly, we also participated in funerals and mourning via Zoom. Yet, we participated. We were there for each other, with each other. And that is what makes us a community. Holidays and shabbat enable us to step away from the ordinary and share in the extraordinary gifts of tefillah, teshuvah and tzedakah. And those gifts are open to all Jews.  Realistically, holidays also force us to confront stubborn barriers and create different ways of thinking about how we worship. For some, holidays trigger anxiety, fear of judgement and underscore what is perceived as missing – just one more challenging thing on a list of challenging things. The Miami Jewish Abilities Alliance recognizes this duality of wanting to worship and facing barriers and offers these resources so you can pray, celebrate and participate in your Judaism because that’s what a community is, it’s all of us together.

Please take a look at this series of short films by Bejamin Rosloff, entitled, What I Pray For where Jews with disabilities share what prayer means to them.

Looking forward to being Jewish together.

The Inclusive Congregations Guide from Disability Belongs/RespectAbility serves as a road map of sorts offering practical tools as well as spiritual references for worship.

From Longing to Belonging – Including People with Disabilities & Mental Health Conditions

People with disabilities and mental health conditions want what everyone wants–to belong to their chosen community of faith. Shelly Christensen, a leader in the faith community disability inclusion movement, author, and co-founder of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month provides context for rethinking what it means to belong and be seen as a valued member of a congregation or faith community. Presented at the 40 Days and 40 Nights Online Event for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

High Holidays

The Disability Inclusion Learning Center is made possible by a partnership between the Union for Reform Judaism and the Ruderman Family Foundation. Reform professionals, lay leaders, youth, clergy, educators and congregants are invited to use the study sessions and resources on this site to develop additional skills, strategies and understanding to make possible the full participation of people with disabilities in early childhood education, B’nai Mitzvah, youth group, congregational trips, worship and every other area of congregational life. The Center has collated resources here including videos on inclusive high holiday worship and beyond and offers resources for congregational learning from Matan, Respectability and others.

Passover – Pesach

Haggahdot

This link will take you to the beautiful Passover Haggadah in Pictures made for the Special Mitzvah Seder created by Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus in Aventura, Fl

With this link to Haggadot.com you can make your own Haggadah

Here is Beit Issie Shapiro of Israel’s interactive Hagadah

And this one from JBI, formerly known as the Jewish Braille Institute, offers FREE large print, Braille and audio format Haggadot

And here is the stunningly poignant Haggadah entitled, “A Haggadah for Understanding Autism,” created by Adian Pursley, a student volunteer with Autism Allies, University of Virginia in Charlottesville which is a real gift for an awareness event:

Passover Resources

This resource from Beit Issie is a video celebrating the four questions of Passover – Pesach with Assistive technology.

Matan offers this resource library of curricula of Jewish discussions of disability and inclusion organized by age group. Simply sign in with your email address for access to the materials.

And this guide from RespectAbility gives an overview of steps you can take to make your Seder inclusive.

Shabbat

Here is a guide from Gateways on inclusive Shabbat worship 

Resources from Jewish Interactive on Jewish holidays, Hebrew instruction, secular Jewish and Israeli culture can be found here