Rabbi Heller's Blog

Welcoming special guest Paige Rohe, in observance of Jewish Disabilites Awareness Acceptance and Inclusion Month.

Recently, my family worked with experts inside and outside my daughter’s elementary school to develop a 504 plan, or a plan that allows her to receive some accommodations and supports for her physical and learning disabilities. Her plan includes things like the ability to have a sensory break (get up and wiggle or jump or chew some gum). She has help to carry heavy things and to do two-handed tasks, and extra help with math and reading. We spent months and hundreds of dollars in evaluations and medical advice to develop this pages-long plan.

When I signed my name on the plan, I felt relief we had finished it, but also trepidation. I know that educating a room full of second graders is very tough job all by itself. Would her school, which had agreed to this, really have the motivation and the means to do everything they said they would?

I would have to wait and see. 

This week’s Torah portion, Terumah, discusses all the instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. 

G-d tells Moses that he and “every person whose heart is so moved” have to gather up really expensive and specific materials for the project like gold, copper, lapis lazuli, acacia wood, etc. 

Then, like in an IKEA construction booklet, G-d gives Moses and the Israelites line-by-line instructions as to how everything should be built. (Spoiler alert! The good news is that there is no awkward Allen wrench included; The bad news is there are no pictures and odd measurements.) It occurred to me when I had finished the portion, that just like building a throne for G-d, a piece of furniture, or my daughter’s education plans, the first step was having faith that the plan was a solid one, and that the instructions were correct. In the case of the Ark, we have, you know, the Expert of All Experts. It is from these instructions, that we know something marvelous was built that allowed G-d to travel with the Israelites and help them on their journey through the desert. And look how we have survived and thrived as a result, so many thousands of years since. 

It's an apt metaphor for the value of disabilities inclusion.

For some, all the big and little changes needed to accommodate someone with a behavioral disorder or a physical limitation may feel too significant given the abilities of the rest of a classroom or a congregation.
Yet, for those “whose hearts are so moved,” to make these changes, and keep working on inclusion when we need to, we can create a society where everyone’s gifts can be contributed and where everyone benefits as a result. Imagine how we might thrive as a congregation then - when all our people can be a true part of our community as we worship G-d.