continued from page 54
“It was a very special day,” Levitan says. “His
simchah was all of our simchah.”
Gesher LaTorah, a Baltimore-based organization, uses
a multi-sensory approach to convey Jewish lessons to
individuals with special needs.
Jews, with 20 percent of respon-
dents indicating they are unable
to participate in Jewish life
because of their disability.
“A person’s bar or bat mitzvah
is one of the most important
moments in their Jewish lives,”
says Jay Ruderman, president
of the Boston-based Ruderman
Family Foundation, which pro-
motes the inclusion of people
with disabilities. “It is a rite
of passage that should not be
denied to any Jewish child,
regardless of their abilities.
“I would like to see every syna-
gogue in North America commit
to providing a bar or bat mitzvah
to any Jewish child who wants
one. This would be a huge state-
ment by the Jewish community
that every Jewish child is valued
equally in our society.”
More often than not, accord-
ing to Cantor Steven Stoehr, it’s
not that synagogues don’t want
to include individuals with dis-
abilities, but rather that they
aren’t aware of the need to do so
or how to meet that need. Three
years ago, Stoehr’s synagogue,
Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Ill.,
was approached about Rosh
Hashanah programming for
people with special needs.
“We did some research.
Nothing was going on at our syn-
agogue or even in the area. So
we created something,” Stoehr
says. Ultimately, this led to the
C56
celebrate! • 2017
jn
creation of a Rosh Hashanah
machzor for people with dis-
abilities and, subsequently,
Chanukah, Purim, Passover and
Shabbat experiences. Finally,
Beth Shalom founded Healthy
Understanding and Growing
Space (HUGS), a program that
caters to children and teens
at four Chicago synagogues.
Stoehr says his synagogue has
now hosted about half a dozen
special-needs b’nai mitzvot.
“We had one boy with cerebral
palsy who could not stand or sit,
but his cognitive self was intact.
We had a very moving service,”
Stoehr says.
At that service, Beth Shalom
moved the Torah scroll to a low
table on the main floor and
allowed the boy to read lying
down. The congregation, recalls
Stoehr, was brought to tears.
In Boston, two organizations
serving people with disabilities
merged 10 years ago to form
Gateways, with funding from the
Ruderman Family Foundation.
Gateways’s B’nei Mitzvah
Program prepares students with
special needs for their bar/bat
mitzvah with a combination of
individual tutoring, classroom
activities and a weekly prayer
service.
Gateways’s executive director,
Arlene Remz, says the program
uses a combination of new tech-
nologies and evidence-based
practices to prepare teens with
moderate to severe disabilities
for their big day.
Gateways developed a Hebrew
reading program based on mne-
monic devices, through which
several youths have learned to
read Hebrew and eventually
decode their Torah portions.
The system includes an adapted
trope.
According to Remz, there are
students who could not read
English who have learned to
read Hebrew through the pro-
gram.
A similar program to
Gateways, Gesher LaTorah,
exists in Baltimore through
the Macks Center for Jewish
Education. Gesher LaTorah’s
director, Rachel Turniansky, says
she and her staff use a multi-sen-
sory approach to convey Jewish
lessons. The common thread
between the organizations’ dif-
ferent programs is their role in
creating a place in the Jewish
community for these youths.
“Judaism is not a solitary act,”
says Remz. “But Judaism is not
only about creating a Jewish
community, it is also to be part
of a community of Jewish peers.”
Remz explains that many fami-
lies with children with disabilities
feel isolated — or isolate them-
selves — from the Jewish commu-
nity because they feel unwelcome
or unaccommodated.
“The first closed door may be
the last door. If a family does not
feel welcome in synagogue or
doesn’t feel welcome in a Jewish
school, it is possible they will
never get engaged in the Jewish
community,” Remz says. “By
opening doors — and gates —
we are able to bring families in
so they can better celebrate their
Judaism individually, as a family
and as a part of the larger com-
munity.”
Shara Gilbert lives in Efrat,
Israel, and sends her son Yosef,
who struggles with autism and
several learning difficulties, to
a special-needs school in Gush
Etzion. For his bar mitzvah,
Shara says her family is opting
for a Thursday-morning ceremo-
ny at a minyan Yosef has been
attending with his father for
many years. This will make the
experience less overwhelming
for her son than a large Shabbat-
morning bar mitzvah. Yosef will
only invite select friends and
family members, which will also
make him more comfortable.
“There will be no party, just
a small brunch with family and
friends, some music — very
chill,” Shara says, noting that her
son has managed to learn the
four verses of the Torah portion’s
second aliyah for his big day. She
says she and her husband have
asked several halachic questions
as Yosef prepares to come of age,
such as whether he will count
for a minyan of 10 men and
whether he will be required to
stringently observe mitzvot.
“They ask me, ‘Does he under-
stand?’ If he understands, then
he is required to do [the mitz-
vot],” Shara says.
Isabel Sturman of Portland,
Ore. — who harnessed a similar
can-do attitude to ensure that
her daughter, Hannah, had a bat
mitzvah service five years ago —
says, “I don’t care what abilities
or disabilities your child has,
[he/she] can do it.”
Hannah, who suffers from
an intellectual disability and is
nonverbal, used a communica-
tion device to recite parts of that
day’s liturgy. She also recruited
several family members and
friends to take part in the cer-
emony.
“It was not only a gift they
were giving to her by being part
of her service. She gave a gift
to them by allowing them to
help her become a bat mitzvah,”
Isabel recalls.
“You need to allow yourself to
think outside of the box,” says
Gesher LaTorah’s Turniansky,
addressing her comments to
congregational schools and syn-
agogues. “Not everyone fits the
model. If a school, the rabbi, the
community are open to thinking
creatively, it can work — for any
student. And it can be not the
end, but just the beginning of
the child’s Jewish journey.” *