The High Holidays and Disability Inclusion
A heartfelt message from Rabbi Michael Levy
Dear JDIN friends,
In a few short weeks we will sample savory foods and wish each other “Shanah Tovah umetukah,”—a good and sweet New Year.
Yet many eyes will be brimming with tears.
Israel suffered atrocities on October 7th.
The country and our hearts are still torn asunder.
The very earth shudders as natural and human upheavals wrack the planet.
The disabled and nondisabled alike are seeking shelter under the wings of the Almighty.
It is more crucial than ever that no one be left bereft because a disability prevents him or her from joining other worshippers.
The humorous High Holiday video that I introduced last year (see below) was meant to help disabled worshippers access their synagogues.
This year, may it also assist them in another kind of access—pleading for rachamim (compassion) from our Ruler while storming His Heavenly throne to bring solace and Shalom to our world.
It is my hope that a year from now, we will enter Rosh Hashanah 5786 with unblemished joy and Eternal Shalom for a redeemed world.
–Rabbi Michael Levy
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.