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February is JDAIM Month
BOOK LAUNCH
All Means All: My Life in Advocacy
with Liz Weintraub
Thursday, February 6, 2025
7:30–9:00 PM
Celebrate Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month with the launch of All Means All: My Life in Advocacy, a new publication by our very own Liz Weintraub, co-chair of the Inclusion Committee.
ELIZABETH WEINTRAUB has a long history of leadership in self-advocacy and has held many board and advisory positions at state and national organizations. She is a full time member of the AUCD’s policy team and also the host of “Tuesdays With Liz: Disability Policy For All,” where she describes policy in accessible language so policy is accessible to all. Liz and her husband, Phil, are longtime members of B’nai Israel, and Liz has served for many years as the co-chair of the Inclusion Committee.
Click here to register. All attendees at the book launch will receive a FREE copy of Liz’s book!
Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Shabbat
with Meredith Polsky
Saturday, February 22, 2025
9:00 AM
Meredith Polsky co-founded Matan in 2000 and currently serves as Matan’s Senior Director of Programs and Partnerships. A 2017 Covenant Award winner, Meredith is a nationally sought-after speaker on Jewish Disability Inclusion and is often called upon as an expert voice in the field. She is coauthor of the award-winning I Have a Question children’s book series (Jessica Kingsley Publishers), helping children with disabilities (and all children!) grapple with difficult topics. Meredith is a licensed clinical social worker and has a masters degree in special education. She lives in Gaithersburg with her husband and three children.
Esau’s Blessing: Approaching the Bible In Light of Disability Studies
with Dr. Ora Horn Prouser,
Scholar-in-Residence
Saturday, March 8, 2025
5:30 PM Seudah Shlishit & Learning Session
Each time we view the Bible through a new lens, we add to our understanding of the text, we learn more about ourselves, and we widen the impact of the Bible o n the Jewish community. In this session we will look at the biblical text through Disability Studies. We will see how
viewing certain biblical personalities through this lens provides access to new dimensions of their characters and the texts in which we encounter them. We will then consider the character of God in the Bible and how God too can be more deeply appreciated through the perspective of Disability Studies.
Register at www.bnaiisraelcong.org/event/scholarsaturdayeveningmarch2025.
RABBI'S MESSAGE
BY RABBI MITCHELL BERKOWITZ
As is our tradition, B’nai Israel will mark February as Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month. For
decades, B’nai Israel has been a leader amongst congregations in our efforts to meet the needs of our diverse congregational
community, including in the area of disability inclusion. We are grateful to our lay leaders and professional staff for helping to make this possible.
Judaism has always wrestled with how to best include everyone in our midst. The Torah reminds us that all Jews are part of the covenant: “your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials—the entire body of Israel—your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to
waterdrawer” (Deuteronomy 29:9-10). The details of how we do this are more complex,
but suffice it to say that our goal is enable and empower all Jews to live meaningful Jewish lives.
In the spirit of this month, I want to highlight four initiatives at B’nai Israel that demonstrate our commitment to inclusion. On Thursday, February 6, we will celebrate the launch of All Means All, My Life in Advocacy, written by our very own Inclusion Committee co-chair, Liz Weintraub. Liz
has dedicated her professional career to this cause, and has taken it upon herself to do the same in her volunteer efforts in our congregation. We are thrilled to celebrate this incredible accomplishment for Liz, and we are looking forward to hearing more from her about the book. I hope that you will join us that Thursday evening at 7:30 PM to hear her story.
On Saturday, February 22, Meredith Polsky will address the congregation on Shabbat morning as our featured speaker for Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Shabbat. Meredith is the cofounder of Matan and serves as their Senior Director of Programs and Partnerships. Matan is an organization committed to meeting Jewish communities, organizations, and schools where they are on their inclusion journey, working collaboratively to train, coach, and guide Jewish community leaders towards systemic disability inclusion. We
are thrilled to welcome Meredith to the bima!
Speaking of Matan, B’nai Israel is proud to be part of the inaugural cohort of the Lieberman Fellowship, a new initiative from Matan and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Ilana Jolson, co-chair of the Inclusion Committee, wrote an article about the Fellowship and how it will help further our inclusion initiatives at B’nai Israel, which you can read more about below.
The fourth and final announcement is that our Dr. Ora Horn Prouser will be our Scholar in Residence this spring, March 7-8, 2025, thanks to the generosity of the Dollye & I. Wolford Berman Educational Initiative Grant. Dr. Prouser is the CEO and Academic Dean at the Academy for Jewish Religion, and is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible. I had the opportunity to study with
her at a rabbinic convention years ago, and I am thrilled that she will be hear this spring to share her teachings with all of you. Her topics are diverse and will include a special session on Saturday night in which she will teach us about how reading the Hebrew Bible through the lens of disability studies enables us to access new dimensions of the characters, including God. This session is based on her book, Esau’s Blessing: How The Bible Embraces Those With Special Needs (2011).
Our congregation is proud of all that we have accomplished, and we strive to continue
learning how to best serve the needs of those in our community with disabilities. We agree
with Liz Weintraub’s mantra—all means all—and we aspire to uphold that mantra in all that we do.
B’nai Israel Joins the Lieberman Fellowship to Expand Inclusion for Young Adults with Disabilities
by Ilana Jolson, Inclusion Committee Co-Chair
B’nai Israel Congregation is thrilled to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Lieberman Fellowship, a groundbreaking initiative from Matan, an organization dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in Jewish communities. Partnering with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and funded by Jerry and Eileen Lieberman, this fellowship provides tailored support
to empower Jewish institutions to create meaningful opportunities for young adults with disabilities, ensuring they can fully participate in Jewish life.
The Lieberman Fellowship builds on B’nai Israel’s longstanding commitment to inclusion and its ongoing relationship with Matan. Over the past year, Rabbi Cheryl Stone and Lessans Talmud Torah Principal Dafna Spear have worked closely with Matan to enhance inclusion efforts throughout our religious school. These efforts have enriched the educational experience for all students, ensuring a welcoming environment for children of all abilities.
B’nai Israel’s Fellowship Team
Representing B’nai Israel in the Lieberman Fellowship are Dina Cohen Gruber, President-Elect; Yuval Ifrah, Congregational Shlicha; and Ilana Jolson, Inclusion Committee Co- Chair. These dedicated leaders have joined professional and lay representatives from eight other Jewish
institutions in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area to form the fellowship’s first cohort.
The fellowship includes over 20 hours of live training on best practices in disability inclusion, monthly coaching sessions specific to each congregation, and access to a network of colleagues and experts in the field. B’nai Israel is privileged to receive direct coaching from Rabbi Lauren
Tuchman, an innovative leader on inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life.
Fellowship Highlights
The cohort convened for its first in-person training session on November 14. The day’s
programming covered foundational topics in disability inclusion and featured a panel discussion that included Liz Weintraub, an accomplished disability policy advocate and longtime B’nai Israel member who serves as co-chair of the Inclusion Committee. Liz’s insights, drawn from her extensive professional experience and personal journey, provided a powerful reminder of the importance of creating opportunities for everyone.
Throughout the fellowship, participants will focus on building practical skills, fostering a culture of inclusion, and identifying specific areas where our institutions can grow. The program concludes in June with each participating organization presenting an Inclusion Impact Project. These projects will showcase how lessons from the fellowship have been implemented to make tangible improvements in disability inclusion.
Looking Ahead
We are excited to share more about this transformative work during our annual Inclusion Shabbat on February 22nd. This special service will feature Matan’s co-founder, Meredith Polsky, a nationally recognized expert in Jewish disability inclusion, as our guest speaker.
Inclusion is a core value of our congregation, and it requires the involvement of every member of our community. The Lieberman Fellowship represents an important step forward, building on past successes and helping us create a future where young adults with disabilities are fully embraced and empowered within Jewish life. Stay tuned for updates on our progress and the launch of new initiatives inspired by the fellowship. Thank you for celebrating the values of kindness, justice, and inclusion that define B’nai Israel and the Jewish community.
Learn more about our Inclusion Committee or how you might get involved with its
important work. Contact the co-chairs, Ilana Jolson or Elizabeth Weintraub.
Tue, February 18 2025
20 Shevat 5785
the latest
What’s In a Name? (Parashat Yitro, Refugee Shabbat, February 15) by Rabbi Michael Safra
announcements
Inclement Weather Updates
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February is Jewish Disabilities and Inclusion Month (JDAIM)
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Adult March of the Living Trip April 22–May 1, 2025
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NEW Hebrew High Launches for Grades 9–12
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B'nai Israel First Synagogue in North America to Install RightHear, supporting those who are blind or low vision.
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