Spirituality

Series highlights the past, present and future of
programs for those with disabilities.
Judaism, Disabilities' Series

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

A

lthough Detroit's Jewish
community offers many
synagogue, school, camp
and housing programs for
people with special needs, there is a
need for more, according to one
expert.
"The Jewish community as a whole
has made major strides in the past
generation," says Dr. Mitchell Parker,
special needs director at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit and
Rabbi Daniel Nevins
Dr. Mitchell Parker
teacher development coordinator at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek. "But, to
for Jewish Education in Bloomfield Township;
sound trite, there is a still a long way to go."
and Anita Naftaly, AJE's director of special edu-
Parker believes issues relating to the disabled
cation.
should maintain a high profile.
He took his concerns to Nancy Kaplan, pro-
Class Time
gram director of Eilu v' Eilu, the adult Jewish
"The
idea of the series is to take a subject on
learning project of metro Detroit's Conservative
which
we could explore issues of communal
movement. She took Parker's concerns and
teshuvah (repentance). How are we doing? How
turned them into a four-part "Judaism and
could we be doing better?" Kaplan says.
Disabilities" series, which will run four consecu-
One session will include discussion, educa-
tive Thursday nights, Aug. 23-Sept. 13.
tional
material and a video presentation based on
Kaplan has firsthand understanding of the
Parker's
years as director of the Tikvah program
issue. She and her husband, Michael, have a son
at
Camp
Ramah in Canada. Tikvah was estab-
with special needs.
lished
to
heighten Jewish awareness and identity,
"Being his mom has made me more aware of
and
to
promote
integration into a camp setting
these issues," Kaplan says.
for children with developmental disabilities.
Through the years, she has had involvement in
"(It will be) based on my experiences teaching
many local organizations that promote initiatives
prayer and spirituality to adolescents with devel-
for those with special needs, including the Jewish
opmental disabilities at Ramah," Parker says.
Association for Residential Care (JARC) in
Other sessions will include a study of Torah and
Farmington Hills, which owns the home where
early
rabbinic texts relating to those with disabilities,
her son Dan, 24, has lived for three years.
an
area
included at Parker's suggestion.
The series planning committee includes
"(I was) intrigued by the seemingly contradic-
Kaplan; Jay Raben, JARC Judaic activities coor-
tory statements made in the Torah about treating
dinator; Laurel Berger of JARC's Merle and
people with differences," he says.
Shirley Harris Children and Family Division;
He gives an example of the prohibition against
Aviva Panush, associate director of the Agency

Session 1, Aug. 23: In the Beginning:
Texts from the Bible and Talmud" with
Dr. Mitch Parker.
Session 2, Aug. 30: "Creative Approaches
and Evolving Sensibilities: Disabilities
Issues in Modern Jewish Law" with Rabbi
Daniel Nevins.
Session 3, Sept. 6: "Drawing Water from
the Well: Jewish Spirituality in the Lives of
Individuals with Developmental
Disabilities" with Parker.
Session 4, Sept. 13: "Communal Heshbon
HaNefesh: Town Meeting and Panel
Discussion" moderated by Parker, with
Nancie Furgang, special needs director of
the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit; Robyn Glickman of
Hillel Day School and AJE's Efshar Special
Education Program; Joyce Keller, executive
director of JARC; and Dr. David Loeffler,
educator and parent of a child with special
needs.

those who are blind, hunchbacked or disfigured
from becoming a kohen (priest of the Holy
Temple). But then he cites the verse that says,
"Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stum-
bling block before the blind." (Leviticus 19:1-
37.)
Kaplan sees some texts on the subject of dis-
ability as "really offensive — being from a differ-
ent age in terms of medical knowledge, prejudice
and world view."

Modern-Day Issues

Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Adat Shalom Synagogue,
chairman of the Disabilities Subcommittee of the
Conservative movement's Committee on Jewish Law
and Standards, will lead a session discussing current
issues and the contemporary evolution of Halachah
(Jewish law) for those with disabilities.
Rabbi Nevins will talk about the inclusion of

