Israel Connections & Prayers
by Howard Blas
I have long observed that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are very capable of connecting to and understanding the importance of Israel. The current situation in Israel continues to reinforce this deep-rooted belief.
I have had the opportunity to bring over a dozen groups of people with disabilities through Birthright and other organizations. Our participants get teary-eyed when they put notes in the Kotel, they listen attentively and with understanding when our tour guide dresses up in a funny Herod costume on Masada and enlists the help of staff members to act out the story. They know they are doing something important when they pick peppers or sort potatoes for Leket, and they pose for pictures with IDF soldiers and thank them for service—just like any appreciative Jewish tourist from around the world. And Birthright participants have the special opportunity to spend 10 days traveling around the country with a small group of Israel soldiers who are full participants on the trip.
People with disabilities who attend Jewish summer camps have another unique opportunity to get to know Israel and Israelis. Each summer, thousands of Israelis from various backgrounds with a wide range of religious of observance and political viewpoints work as bunk counselors and specialists for the entire summer. It is no surprise that, when the same campers visit Israel, the Israelis go out of their way to visit their campers. On a recent Tikvah Ramah Birthright Israel trip in February, several shlichim got permission to leave base to visit their camper friends for one precious hour in a Jerusalem hotel. They came in uniform, toting large guns. These same soldier friends are now deployed throughout a country at war.
These teens and young adults with disabilities “get it,” they feel it, they have lots of questions and they want to do something about it. Last Sunday, the Ramah Camping Movement organized a 30 minute Zoom “Ramah Mishpacha Solidarity Meeting.” TIkvah Program participants and alum joined 400 others across the US, Canada and Israel to hear from their shlichim friends—some in uniforms—and so sing familiar songs: Hinei Mah Tov, Acheinu and Hatikvah. I sat in a room (and on screen) with my former bar mitzvah student and now Tikvah camper, Jayden who was searching for Israeli friends onscreen, asking for some by name, and trying to understand when the war will end
At our twice monthly TikvahNet virtual vocational training and socialization program, 50 Tikvah participants and alum discussed the situation in breakout rooms and shared messages with Israeli brothers and sisters:
Be safe and careful
Continue to stay healthy in these difficult times
I am praying for peace and everyone should just live together
I am sorry that you are going through this tough and terrible time
My prayer is that Adonai, I don’t know what to say, but I just feel a little bit down and in tears about it
Nobody really knows what to say. The current situation deeply affects all of us—people with and without disabilities. Let’s continue to come together, share our love and support with those in Israel and, as one participant Alex suggests, to continue to pray.
Howard Blas has a wide range of professional and personal interests. He currently serves as director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network of the National Ramah Commission. In this capacity, Howard works 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.