Are You A Hypocrite?

BlogElul 2014 Are You A Hypocrite, Removing the Stumbling Block

Are you a hypocrite?

Don’t answer that.

A better question: Do you practice what you preach?

I am wondering if you are an Educator, a teacher or a synagogue professional committed to inclusion; working hard to bring a vision of inclusive classrooms and an inclusive community to reality. I hope you said yes…

Now - ask yourself – Are you also someone who will switch lines at the supermarket to avoid the checker with a disability? Do you park in a handicapped spot “just for a minute” while you run a quick errand? Are you a parent who complains that a child with different abilities lowers the expectations for  your child’s class or, worse, “ruins” the classroom experience for your child?

How we act matters. Everywhere. All the time. Not just when we are in our schools. Not just in some conversations some of the time. If we are advocates for inclusion, we are role models. Everywhere. All the time.

I’ve explained this to my students in terms of our Judaism. We are not just Jewish when we are in religious school or synagogue or when we are doing “something Jewish”. Jewish is who we are, not a behavior that we turn on and off, and therefore we can and should see the world around us through our Jewish lens. 

The same is true of inclusion. Inclusive MUST be who we are, not a behavior we turn on and off. We MUST see the world around us through an inclusive lens.

We are either inclusive or we aren’t. We can’t turn it on in our schools and our professional lives only to turn it off when the bell rings at the end of the day. 

How we act matters. Everywhere. All the time. 


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This post is a part of the month-long series #BlogElul. The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation...  - See more at: http://jewishspecialneeds.blogspot.com/2014/08/blogelul-inclusion-to-do-list.html#sthash.ed6B6Ztd.dpuf

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