Inclusion Celebration Month, February 2019 

This February will mark the fifth year that the Adas community is celebrating Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). This is a wonderful continuation of our work in lifting up the value of inclusion and removing barriers to full participation in our congregational life. These programs, presented by the Inclusion Task Force, comprise a unique set of opportunities to look at the progress we have made and to examine areas for improvement.

Inclusion Celebration Shabbat

Saturday, February 2, 2019

9:30am Dvar Torah in the Charles E. Smith Sanctuary "Beyond Productivity: How Shabbat Values Underscore the Principles of Disability Justice." 1:15-2:15pm Post-Kiddush interactive text-study "Priestly Bodies & Blemishes in Torah and Talmud," an examining Leviticus 21's prohibitions regarding disabled priests -- and their interpretation and transformation in Jewish law and practice.

Inclusion Celebration Shabbat Guest Speaker: Dr. Julia Watts Belser

This year’s guest speaker for Inclusion Celebration Shabbat is Dr. Julia Watts Belser, associate professor in the Theology Department at Georgetown University. Her work in Jewish studies focuses on Talmud, rabbinic literature, and Jewish ethics. An ordained rabbi, Watts Belser writes queer feminist Jewish theology and brings disability culture into conversation with Jewish tradition. Watts Belser previously held a research fellowship in women’s studies and religion at Harvard Divinity School and taught in Missouri State University's Religious Studies Department. She is the author of Power, Ethics, and Ecology in Jewish Late Antiquity: Rabbinic Responses to Drought and Disaster (2015). She serves on the board of the Society for Jewish Ethics and holds leadership positions in the American Academy of Religion. A wheelchair rider herself, Dr. Belser is the co-author of A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities. She is also a board member of Nehirim, a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews and allies. Watts Belser has a B.A. from Cornell University, M.Div. from the Graduate Theological Union, M.A. from the Academy for Jewish Religion California, and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union.
 

Synagogue Inclusion Network

Sunday, February 24 @ 11am-12:30pm, Biran Bet Midrash

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington convenes a monthly meeting of local inclusion committee members. Join us here as we welcome guest speaker Susan Cohen, president of the Washington Society of the Jewish Deaf, to discuss how we can best accommodate deaf and hard of hearing people in our community.

Mini-Conference on Inclusion in the Conservative Movement

Monday, February 25 @ 10am-4pm, Funger Hall

Join us for a Ruderman Foundation-sponsored conversation about how different institutions in the Conservative Movement (the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Camp Ramah network, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Ziegler School) can be more inclusive. Please email inclusion@adasisrael.org to RSVP to this event.

Jewish Disability Advocacy Day (JDAD) on the Hill

Tuesday, February 26 @ 9am-5pm Capitol Hill: Rayburn House Office Building Register Here

JDAD is an opportunity for professionals and lay leaders from Jewish organizations and communities across the nation to come to Capitol Hill to raise awareness of their work and passion relating to individuals with disabilities and their families. Jewish Disability Advocacy Day includes:

A symposium on disability and inclusion issues from leading analysts; An advocacy briefing on issues to raise with Congress and training on how to be an effective advocate; Lunch with Congressional leaders; and Advocacy visits with your elected officials.

The day is sponsored by Adas Israel Congregation along with Jewish Disability Network — chaired by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism — and other supporting organizations. Join Rabbi Sarah Krinsky, clergy liaison to the Inclusion Task Force, and members of the Inclusion Task Force, for this exciting day of political action and advocacy on Capitol Hill.