Four March 'Musts' for the Jewish Disability Community
by Rabbi Michael Levy
Like runners carrying the Olympic Torch, let our February disability activities blaze a trail through March.
Four March Musts:
Voting
We must boldly advocate for equal access to both polling places and absentee ballots. Given the candidates and the issues, every single vote counts.
2. Climate
We must remember throat-searing particulates from forest fires, floods that damage our homes, smog that can sicken us for weeks and overloaded emergency services les available for people with disabilities in crisis. Then we can contribute in ways large and small to saving our planet.
3. Gun violence
If you’re mobility impaired, you can’t run away from an active shooter. If you’re blind, you’re less able to escape from a protest that suddenly becomes a riot. Let’s advocate for safety trainings and drills that include the disabled, whatever their level of intelligence.
4. We must believe, and act on our belief, that we can make the world a better place
To express this belief and act on it, some of us seek our Creator. Others find hope in poetry, music, performing acts of kindness and learning and expressing the Jewish concept of Tikkun. Let those of us with disabilities participate actively, advocating when necessary to remove barriers to that participation.
Let’s “March.”
A native of Bradley Beach, New Jersey, Rabbi Michael Levy attributes his achievements to G-d's beneficence and to his courageous parents. They supported him as he learned to travel independently, visited Israel, and became more Jewishly observant. For 65 years, JBI International supported him with braille and recorded Judaica material.
He received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1981 and an MSW from Columbia University in 1982.
As a board member and now President of Yad Hachazakah, Rabbi Levy strives to make the Jewish experience and Jewish texts accessible to Jews with disabilities. In lectures at synagogues, camps, and educational institutions, he cites Nachshon, who according to tradition boldly took the plunge into the Red Sea even before it miraculously parted. Rabbi Levy elaborates, "We who have disabilities should be Nachshons--boldly taking the plunge into the Jewish experience, supported by laws and lore that mandate our integration.”
He applauds Jewish Disability Inclusion News’s ambition to give voice not just to those who work with the disabled, but also to people with disabilities themselves. “About us? Not without us” he is fond of reminding those eager to listen, and the media to whom the maxim may be out of their comfort zone.
For over 20 years, Rabbi Levy served as director of Travel Training at MTA New York CityTransit. Now retired, he is an active participant in Congregations Aish Kodesh and Young Israel in Woodmere, New York. Most of all, he relishes the company of his children, grandchildren, and large extended family.