by A.G. Inclusion has always permeated my entire relationship with my temple, Congregation Kol Ami. My very first conversation with Rabbi Shira Milgrom was about inclusion. Twenty-one years ago, I was faced with a dilemma. How could my ten-year-old son become a bar mitzvah if as a single working parent I could barely pay the rent, no less pay dues? I posed the question to Rabbi Shira. Her reply was simple. “Just because you are poor, is not a reason that should prevent you from being part of a Jewish community.” And so it began. Jeff attended Hebrew school and I started to go to the “Spiritual Lift”, a Saturday morning Sabbath service held in the Chapel in the Woods. Years of social isolation began to fade, as I was welcomed into the congregation, a devoted group of fifty to one hundred Jews that eventually became an extended family. It [...]
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. -Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 Coming back from an outing to Tel Aviv, we got on the9:22to Acco. It was a Thursday night, so the train was packed, and the prospects of finding seats looked grim. However, making our way toward the front car we came across an area with fold-down seats, of which several were blocked by a mass of large suitcases. The luggage belonged to two couples obviously returning from the airport, and with a little rearrangement we succeeded in folding down two seats for us and one for a grandmotherly Orthodox woman also looking for a place. The couples were Arabs from a village in our area, forty-ish, middle class, [...]
by Cindy Singer My name is Cindy Singer. November 6, 1996- a day that my son, Dylan was born with familial dysautonomia (FD), one of 19 devastating Jewish Genetic Diseases (JGD’s). It is a day that will forever be remembered as one of the saddest days of our lives. Along with a host of other life threatening symptoms associated with FD, Dylan is also Autistic and non-verbal. 10% of those afflicted with FD are Autistic. Amazingly, Dylan communicates with an iPad via a special needs voice out-put program called the Proloquo. As a family we knew that Dylan would have profound health struggles and developmental challenges but with the help of our community or what I like to call “our village” we learned to build a life “one-day-at-a-time”. Initially our synagogue responded by keeping somewhat of a distance from us. I imagine this happened because everyone had heard of Tay [...]
The first temple, in Jerusalem, was built by King Solomon, after God deemed his father, King David, unworthy of the task. Nonetheless, a dozen member congregations of the Union for Reform Judaism have deemed King David worthy enough to name their temples after him (although none explains on its website the reason for their choice). But among contemporary URJ temples, only one bears the name Solomon. You could readily surmise that the Jews of that congregation wanted to honor the great builder and wise man who is credited with writing Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. (Daddy only has Psalms to his credit.) But in so surmising, you would be wrong. Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (Northridge CA) was coaxed into being, according to its online history, as an evolution of the Los Angeles Hebrew Association of the Deaf, and the transition was facilitated by the regional director [...]
