Jewish music is powerful. It can engage us and connect
us to one another, deepening our relationships. Jewish music can connect us to
our memories with a single note, evoking emotions while transporting us to
another time and place. Jewish music can
help us to find our connection to God, touching our hearts and our souls.
The lyrics of our tradition have the power to teach, to inspire, to guide us
to find that better part of ourselves waiting to be discovered.
Olam Chesed Yibaneh (performed by Simone G., originally recorded by Rabbi Menachem Creditor)
For me, lyrics to convey the possibilities of inclusion: "I will build this world with love, And you will build this world with love, And if we build this world with love, Then God will build this world with love." (adapted from Psalm 89:3)
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It finally happened.After 21 days of #BlogElul I've hit the
wall.It is nearly 9:00pm and I am sitting down
at my computer for the first time all day.What kept me away?
My day started with a quick
cup of coffee & a run followed by visiting not one, but two, new schools
with my kids (my son begins Middle School and my daughter begins Intermediate
School). The afternoon brought the completion of a consulting project, curriculum
development with a teacher, and some administrative troubleshooting.Bar mitzvah lessons for my son and a late
dinner rounded out the evening, and here I am.
And so, on the verge of
saying something snarky, I plopped down on my couch and announced to my family
that I hadn’t even thought about today’s #BlogElul prompt.To my surprise, both my husband and daughter
chimed in with ideas.
My husband took dare and
wanted to go in the direction of, “Forget ‘normal’, dare to be different.It’s our differences that make us special.”Wow.I
wasn’t actually sure he was even reading my blog. (But credit where credit is
due…he was instrumental in helping me to name it.)
And then my ten-year-old
daughter blew me away.She said, “I want
to write about how kids treat kids with special needs. Will you put it on your
blog?" Heck yeah!
“Sometimes there are people
who are not very nice to other people.Like some kids will make fun of or not hang out with kids with special
needs. That is not nice. Just because someone’s different does not mean they
don’t have the same interests as you. You could make some friends even if they
learn differently or act differently. Go ahead, be nice. I dare you!”
And this just made my hectic
day perfect.
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Whether you're considering a small change to one
or two processes, or a system-wide change to an organization, it's common to
feel uneasy and intimidated by the scale of the challenge. You know that the
change needs to happen, but you don't really know how to go about delivering
it. Where do you start? Whom do you involve? How do you see it through to the
end?
When striving to make an organization fully inclusive, all too often, the
questions themselves can seem overwhelming, the task insurmountable.But when you really think about it, each one
of us is a change agent.We each have
the power and the responsibility to affect those around us.Change is a process, and we have to start
somewhere.Small steps CAN make a
difference.
One of my
favorite stories:
Once upon a time, there was an old man who took walks on the beach every morning.
Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm
had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as
the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the
distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the
boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could
see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw
it into the sea. The man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what
it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused,
looked up, and replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed
them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves. When the
sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied,
“But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m
afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent
down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the
ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
Moving a
faith organization toward inclusion may seem like throwing back all the
starfish on the beach; but go ahead, start with the ones you can reach.
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One of
the most significant aspects of Jewish Summer camp is the ability to live in
Jewish time.Jewish professionals work
hard year round to help our children integrate their Jewish and secular selves, gaining an
understanding along the way that this is really one and the same. We are not Jewish (or Catholic or Muslim...)
only when we go to synagogue or when we attend a Jewish program.Rather, our Jewish values can inform our actions
and shape our choices in every aspect of our lives.
I believe
that by sending our children to camp and giving them the opportunity to immerse
fully in Jewish time, we better equip them to live Jewishly all the time. Prayer is an integral part of developing
such an identity.What makes camp so special is that spirituality, prayer and worship are natural threads woven intentionally into the fabric of their day. Further, prayer is
inherently inclusive despite the fact that not all worship settings or
opportunities are. (I’d love to have a conversation with you about making your
worship experiences more inclusive – it’s possible!)
Prayer at
camp is also about experimenting, about moving away from what we think and
expect prayer should be, and allowing ourselves to experience what prayer can
be.
My good friend and colleague, Rabbi Rachel
Ackerman and I developed what we call the Sidewalk Chalk service.Here, participants are encouraged to draw
their reflections and thoughts while we recite and sing the words of our
liturgy.It has become a unique, creative
expression of prayer:
Participants wrote the names of those in their memories as we prepared to recite Kaddish.
Another
good friend and colleague, Rabbi Ken Carr shared with us a beautiful
reading.I hope that it may inspire you to think
creatively about the prayer opportunities you may lead.
I had a box of colors —
Shining, bright, and bold.
I had a box of colors,
Some warm, some very cold.
I had no red for the blood of wounds.
I had no black for the orphans’ grief.
I had no white for dead faces and hands.
I had no yellow for burning sands.
But I had orange for the joy of life,
And I had green for buds and nests.
I had blue for bright, clear skies.
I had pink for dreams and rest.
I sat down
And painted
Peace.
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As I read today’s #BlogElul
prompt, I immediately found myself thinking about the Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference. ~ Reinhold
Niebuhr
While its universal nature
has led, at times, to oversaturation and overuse, I think that the serenity prayer conveys a significant message for Elul.(As
a reminder, the Hebrew month of Elul, for Jews, is a time of introspection and
reflection that leads up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which is also
the start of the High Holy Days. #BlogElul is an effort to reflect through writing.)
I work hard on recognizing
those things which are truly out of my control.It’s not easy.Those can often be
the things that frustrate me the most. Learning to let them go and focus fully on the
things that I can impact, on ways that I can make a difference, is an ongoing
process for me.
Are there direct applications
to the world of disability awareness, acceptance and inclusive practice? Of
course.
Here’s one:
While we may not be able to
change the way some people will speak about (or to) an individual with
disabilities, we can change our response.Despite the fact that we may feel frustrated, sad or downright angry,
channeling that emotion and crafting a well-thought out response may help to
educate the person who has been offensive.Here is a great list of responses from the Friendship Circle Blog.
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There is
no doubt in my mind that EVERYONE has the ability to learn.
We just
each go about it in a different way.From Proverbs, “Teach a child according to his/her own way,” but
how do you discover a learner’s “way”?I
think it makes sense to think of a child’s “way” as his/her learning style.
Learning
style is defined as an individual’s preferred mode of gaining knowledge. There
are three basic learning styles that are most widely utilized; visual, auditory
and kinesthetic.However, four
additional categories are also generally accepted; social, logical, verbal and
solitary.A reasonable overview can be
found here.
I know that
I am primarily a visual learner.How do
I know this?When one of my children
yells down the stairs, “Hey mom, what does I-N-S-U-R-M-O-U-N-T-A-B-L-E mean?” I
will usually reply, “Come down here…I need to see it.”Similarly, when attending a lecture or a
workshop, I take notes on what the presenter is saying.For me, the act of writing (kinesthetic) and
then being able to see the information in front of me helps me to retain what I
have learned.
We all use
every learning style, but we have dominance in certain areas.As you saw above, I demonstrated a blend of two
learning styles, despite first asserting my dominance as a visual learner. Further,
our dominance is not fixed and can shift given the experience, and it is
possible to learn or improve dominance in any given area.Despite that, being in tune to your own
learning style can help you select strategies that will enable you to find
success.There are a great many
inventories available. I do not endorse any in particular, but know that if you
Google “learning style inventory” you will come up with many options.
Finally, if
you are a teacher, knowing your students’ learning styles will help you to
shape lessons to meet their needs more effectively while helping students to understand
their own learning styles will enable them to develop the skills of
self-advocacy.
“If a
child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”~ Ignacio Estrada
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Each day during the Jewish month
of Elul (with the exception of Shabbat) it is traditional for the shofar (ram’s
horn) to be blown. The sound of the shofar, Maimonides explains,is the call to teshuvah (returning to your true self).As we get closer & closer to the High Holy
Days, we look back over the year and strive to recognize where we may have missed
the mark. The sound of the shofar is the reminder to return to ourselves, to
reflect on who we want to be and who we have yet to become.
Blowing the shofar symbolically challenges
us to do the work of reflection and self-improvement necessary to reach the New
Year with a whole heart.
Yet it is not enough to
simply hear the sound of the shofar.
We
must truly listen. Each of us has a story, and to be heard, to be genuinely
listened to, is to have our story validated. I challenge you to take it upon
yourself to ensure that one more story is heard,
because in doing so you can make inclusion a part of your life.Maybe your focus will be on inclusive
language or maybe you will have an opportunity to bring someone with
disabilities into the life of your congregation.Maybe your focus will be on education or
maybe you will help someone to make a spiritual connection.Listen to the stories, they deserve to be
heard.
“We, the one's who are
challenged, need to be heard. To be seen not as a disability, but as a person
who has, and will continue to bloom. To be seen not only as a handicap, but as
a well intact human being.” --
Robert M. Hensel
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I can’t honestly think of too many times when it's "ok" to
turn a do into a don’t.Actually, it’s
typically just the opposite, especially with children.When trying to help shape a child’s behavior
or teach a child a value, it’s far more effective to use positive language. For example, instead of “don’t run”, it’s a
better choice to say, “walk” (the do is implied, of course).
I feel strongly that we should all try to use "do
statements" in both parenting and in teaching.
Nonetheless, I will break from my own advice for a moment. Once you watch this video
called "Don't Limit Me", I think you will
understand why.
With thanks to Cindy Barclay of Surprising Treasures for bringing
this special video to my attention.
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There is, of course, the obvious direction that this prompt could
take me in writing about inclusion and Jewish special needs education.
But I think that #BlogElul is a little bit about pushing our
boundaries; a challenge to reach beyond the obvious, to dig a little deeper and
to hopefully stumble upon the potential for significant and meaningful
reflection. So I would like to share a
personal story.
This week (and next) I have the good fortune to be serving
on the faculty at URJ Camp Harlam. It is an opportunity unlike any other in my
professional and personal life. It is challenging and it is rewarding.It is both exhausting and exhilarating.I love that I have this chance to build
relationships with campers and staff, and I relish the possibility that I may
impact, in some way, their Jewish lives.I am honored to accept this responsibility.
A water bearer in
Babylon had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried
across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was
perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long
walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half
full.
For a full two
years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots
full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of
its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor
cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection.
I have said before that inclusion is not a program.And inclusion is not something that we do for
people with disabilities. Rather,
inclusion is a mindset, an attitude, a way of thinking that opens doors to
opportunities for meaningful engagement, contribution and belonging.
However, there is no question that we must act in order to
make inclusion a reality in our synagogues.
The first thought that came into my mind when I saw this
prompt was the famous Nike slogan, “Just Do It”. I’ve been a part of many conversations where
those involved lament the insurmountable barriers that prevent inclusion from happening.
I’ll be honest.In most of those conversations what I most
want to say is, “Really? Have you
tried?No? Then just do it!”
Think of Nachshon.When the Israelites, on their Exodus from Egypt, reached the sea, with Pharaoh’s
army hot on their tail, they were convinced that all was for naught. But Nachshon, knowing that to go back meant
certain death, certain failure, chose instead to trust in God and walked forward
into the sea. And as the midrash goes,
it wasn’t until the water was up over Nachson’s mouth and nose that the sea
finally parted and the rest of the Israelites could follow and safely cross.
This is the kind of action that can make inclusion a
reality. Nachshon needs a pair of Nike’s, because he is
the epitome of Just Do It!
Now it is your turn. Have faith and walk into the water. Take
your first step toward inclusion. The others will follow.
“Just Do It”
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Today marks the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, the final month in the Jewish calendar before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Elul is typically a month of spiritual reflection and renewal that leads us to the High Holy Days. There is a really neat effort by a Reform rabbi named Phyllis Sommer called #BlogElul. You can read more about it here. Or here. Basically it is one more way to tune in, reflect and prepare for the holy days ahead. What I really like is that Phyllis has given us a topic, or a prompt, for each of the days of the month:
The topic for #BlogElul 1 is Prepare. And I'm in; I want to do my best to blog every day as a way to personally prepare. But I also feel that it's important to stay true to my content. Therefore, each of my posts will have a reflection, some inspiration or a tip, technique or strategy related in some way to Jewish special needs education or inclusion, which I hope will allow me the opportunity to inspire others to think deeply or differently, while also allowing me the opportunity to stop, think and reflect as I prepare for the new year ahead. Please join me in the journey.
#BlogElul 1 - Prepare Preparation is critical in inclusion and special needs education. Inclusion can only truly be successful with significant, intentional and mindful preparation. For a religious school, there are many ways to accomplish intentional preparation. Here are just a few ideas to get you started: 1. Meet with both parent and student before the school year. Set goals together.
2. Give identified students a tour of the religious school and the synagogue to become familiar with the spaces before school begins. And for returning students, bring them in to see their new classroom.
3. Provide inservice opportunities for faculty to learn more about working with students who have disabilities.
4. Read. There are a ton of wonderful blogs, articles and books dedicated to the topic of inclusion.
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