"If You Don't Subscribe... You Don't Know." • • • Want to know about happenings in your community, your neighborhood? About local Jewish ,,rmuna events and issues that impact you and THE JEWISH NEWS your children? Want to know who's A Significant Step getting married? Or promoted. How However Symbolic' about where to dine, shop? The latest sales. The money-saving coupons. And so much more. There's only one place you can get all this and more. All for as little as 630 a week! The Detroit Jewish News. Where else? , THE JEWISH NEWS '33.00 T H E D ET RO IT J E WISH N EWS Money-Saving 12 Month Subscription 12 (Out of State, add $ 12.00) Send in the coupon, or if you'd like, call Stephanie Miller at 354-6620. Please send payment and coupon to: The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Rd. Southfield, MI 48034 Name Address City Phone State Zip DISABLED page 10 There has even been some discussion about installing an electric sliding door. Unfortunately, the changes required to make a temple or synagogue barri- er-free can be quite costly, and many synagogues and temples are restrained by economics. There is not enough space for a ramp to be built at the bimah at Temple Emanu-El — it would cut into the bimah — and a lift is very expen- sive, but Temple Emanu-El even so, is a worthy exam- ple of the changes a syna- gogue or temple can and should make to welcome those members with dis- abilities, the least of which are handicapped parking and restrooms. Large-print prayerbooks are available, as is a sound-enhancement system. Working much like a radio broadcasting sys- tem, small radios, when tuned to a certain AM fre- quency, allow the hearing impaired to follow the ser- vices and listen to the ser- mons. On the High Holidays, and on one Shabbat a month, a sign language interpreter is present during services. A remaining barrier to Temple Emanu-El's acces- sibility is its front doors, which are decorated with heavy metal sculptures that cannot be easily opened by someone sitting in a wheelchair. Rabbi Lane Steinger of Temple Emanu-El has a few suggestions which would allow full participa- tion from the disabled members of any congrega- tion. A recent bar mitzvah boy's father does not walk, so the Torah was read not on the bimah, but on the floor. Rabbi Steinger believes that portable Torah tables would allow for this kind of participa- tion more frequently, as would modular seating instead of pews. He knows, however, that there is no foolproof system, and that there are "real issues" that do not allow for the exten- sive changes required to be accommodating, Yet he believes that all religious institutions must "try to be sensitive and responsible," and must be open to all. Rabbi David Nelson, too, is strongly guided by that principle. Beth Shalom is studying to redo part of the bimah to make it accessible to the disabled members of the congregation. "It is the correct thing to do," says Rabbi Nelson. Disabled worshippers are "as signifi- cant as any other able-bod- ied member" of a congrega- tion. Rabbi Nelson often steps down from the pulpit and goes into the congrega- tion to congragulate people who cannot come up to the bimah, and he says that some of the most moving services include those when people with disabili- ties are able to approach the bimah and participate. As of yet, there are no handicapped restrooms in Beth Shalom, so wheel- chair users use the Rabbi's study. The library contains Braille prayerbooks and parts of the Torah, and Rabbi Nelson is confident that the other modifica- tions needed to make Beth Shalom completely barrier- free will be effected. Although no synagogue nor temple is perfect, reli- gious leaders and congre- Unfortunately, the changes required to make a temple or synagogue barrier-free can be quite costly, gations, with 'the aid of such publications at "That All May Worship," are becoming increasingly aware of the modifications they need to make in their buildings, so that anyone who wishes to enter may do so comfortably. The changes may be long in coming because of economic restraints, but finding ways to accommodate those with sensory, physical, or any other disabilities must be a top priority. It should not be easier for a wheel- chair user to go into a bar or buy a pizza than it is to get into his or her syna- gogue. As Rabbi Nelson says, no matter what the packaging is like, "every soul is complete." ❑ Sign Language Classes Set The Deaf, Hearing and Speech Center is offering sign language classes at the Maple-Drake Jewish Com- munity Center 4:30-5:45 p.m. starting April 20 for 10 weeks. To register, call JCC, 661-1000.