Celebrating JDIN's First Anniversary!
by Howard Blas
In 2010, I had the privilege of participating in the inaugural cohort of the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows – Leading Educators Online. During one of our Israel training trips, I made a comment which caught the attention of our program directors. I made the bold statement that, in my experience, the ONLY place in the Jewish world where people of diverse backgrounds regularly meet and engage meaningfully is in the Jewish disabilities world. I cited a story I had heard of a woman Reconstructionist rabbi and a Chabad rabbi sitting around the table—not discussing practice or ideology, but rather sharing the experience of parenting autistic children.
The program director encouraged me to “say more” and write an article for the Lookstein (Jewish Education) Journal. In the process of writing “Special Needs Brings People Together” (a title that I would change in 2024), I began thinking of places where the Jewish community has historically come together. I considered the Soviet Jewry movement, Hillel on campus, Chabad early childhood programs, and the biblical notion that we were ALL Standing (Parshat Nitzavim) and that we were ALL at Sinai (for the receiving of the Ten Commandments and torah).
I proceeded to focus on one compelling, modern day example--the Shefa School in Manhattan, a community Jewish day school which attracts Jewish students with learning disabilities from every possible background.
In recent years, Jews with disabilities and professionals committed to Jewish disability inclusion have come together in two spaces--conferences sponsored by the Ruderman Family Foundation and in the pages of the New Normal, a former publication of the New York Jewish Week.
When both of these important pillars of the Jewish disabilities community ceased to exist, a number of us–people with disabilities, advocates and people working in the disability field–got together to brainstorm ways to keep bringing all of us together and ways we could share our messages with the rest of the world.
Happily and proudly, the Jewish Disability Inclusion News (JDIN) was born! And many of those original thought partners are now contributors and members of our advisory board. We are pleased to celebrate our FIRST anniversary this July.
In one short year, with the help of contributors with and without disabilities, and thanks to the efforts of our amazing editor, Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, we have managed to share dozens of articles on our Substack focusing on disability advocacy, education and awareness in the Jewish community and beyond.
We now have over 50,000 readers across 35 states and 35 countries. We are grateful that you are one of them and hope that in our second year, we will reach even more readers.
Some of our most viewed articles this year include: “Why we should not wish everyone a meaningful fast,” written by a professional and person with a disability, Jason Lieberman, “My daughter is my best teacher,” by Dr. Len Felder, parent of a child with a disability, and “Four March Musts for the Jewish Disability Community,” by Rabbi Michael Levy, a disabilities professional and advocate, who has written numerous articles for our publication. A piece that I wrote about Israel gearing up for more people with disabilities given the current war was our 4th most read piece with some very moving follow up posted recently.
We invite you to join us on our JDIN journey! We are always looking for new and repeat contributors—as well as new subscribers. Every rabbi, cantor, Jewish educator and Jewish organization should know about us—and we are free! We are also always seeking support of donors and foundations. We operate independently of any organization and are therefore free to truly share the widest possible range of perspectives. Feel free to contact me with if you have interest in supporting us or know of foundations aligned with our mission: howardblas@hotmail.com.
Thank you for being part of our growing efforts!
Howard Blas has a wide range of professional and personal interests. He has served as a director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network of the National Ramah Commission, working with Ramah camps as they include and support campers with disabilities. Howard previously served as the director of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England for 15 years. Howard discovered his passion for working with people with disabilities when he served as a counselor and division head in the Tikvah Program starting in the early 1980s.