“On Tisha B'Av, we join the eternal chorus of the broken, the mourning, the unconsoled. We refuse the theology of everything that happens for a reason and embrace the theology of Lamentations: sometimes things are simply ruined, and the agony is real.” www.disabilitytorahproject.org/writings/tis...

One of the most frustrating things about being physically disabled is I have never seen an ablebodied person (who has not had to take care of a disabled parent) understand what it means to be physically disabled Not one. There is just that little education on the topic

"...the systems are not made for us. We are the ones who most clearly see the world’s brokenness, and so we most clearly hear the call to get creative and make something new." www.disabilitytorahproject.org/writings/bal...

We’re inviting contributions for the Disability Torah Project, a growing collection of writings that explore the weekly Torah portion with a focus on disability. Details at link below. Fun and supportive opportunity! www.disabilitytorah.org/write-with-us

“Grief tells us that we have loved and the deeper that love, the larger the vessel for the grief. Allowing ourselves to feel the grief in whatever capacity is possible is transformative, because it shows our systems that we can do hard things." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/chu...

If your “accessible” shul says “if we make this accommodation for you, we’ll have to do it for everyone” - that’s not inclusion, it’s avoidance. Access isn’t about making exceptions. It’s about reshaping the space so everyone actually belongs.

If you don’t know your needs, you won’t see the meltdown coming. You’ll blame yourself for “losing it” instead of recognizing the warning signs. Understanding your needs isn’t selfish. It’s survival. It’s how we interrupt the cycle - before the crash.

Most people are far closer to becoming disabled and/or homeless than they realize. All it takes is one accident, infection, virus or stroke of bad luck. Your life can change in an instant, and no one is the exception. You can’t “try harder” your way out of it, and it’s not a personal failing.

This is even true where a person's disability does not impact ability to go to an office in an obvious way. Meal/food prep is a big burden for me because I essentially cannot eat anything I did not make myself at home. WFH/hybrid takes some of that load off and makes my diet better.

"I have access to the inner wilderness and Promised Land... There are times of sensory overload when I cannot feel the seed of compassion, yet that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. This is what faith is all about." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/shl...

You spent years not knowing. Masking. Struggling. Blaming yourself. Now you know you’re autistic - but that’s just the beginning. My workshop for late-identified autistic humans is a space to unlearn shame, rebuild trust in your brain, and meet yourself with compassion.

"We all lose when disabled people do not have access to leadership. There is a difference between creating a community inclusive of disabled congregants, and creating a community in which disabled people lead." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/beh...

People with disabilities of all kinds were in the Torah. People with hearing loss and chronic pain and neurodivergence and limb differences. How many of them were counted because they could ... carry arms? No way to know. But they were there. They had to be. www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/bam...

Rest is a holy covenant, not a privilege

“Only when a community is fully inclusive, that is, fully integrated with people with disabilities [...] can we fully reach our true potential as a community.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/emo...

“Torah of Pikuach Nefesh comes through our bodies— their insistence on living, their inconvenient, frustrating, and life-altering symptoms. It can be hard to listen. But our bodies speak Torah, and sometimes what they teach is to stop, to rest, to survive.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/ach...

“She suggested that [mitzvot in Leviticus] might instead be a reminder that in certain circumstances we need to be gentle with ourselves and present with our bodies as they are, especially when we wish they were different.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/taz...

Are you an autistic member of the clergy, spiritual leader, or a seminary student? No matter what our faith backgrounds may be, we share in the experience of being autistic, disabled, and holding space for our spiritual communities. Now, a space for us. theautisticcoach.as.me/clergy-semin...

“Disabled people often encounter narratives, sometimes from within ourselves, that frame our need for support as weakness or failure. But Leviticus offers a different model: holiness emerges through structured interdependence.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/shm...

“I can tell you the desert and Promised Land are not mutually exclusive. And that is actually a pretty good thing. Every day, even at my worst, my life has been filled with mini Promised Lands.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/pes...

"But those very things which make us strong—how we move through the world, how we present ourselves, who we love, and how we adapt and survive—are being cast as blemishes, now more than many other times in recent memory." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/vay...

“Gathering the tzitzit reminds me that I can still be uplifted, united with a selfhood I love but do not always understand, united with a people I love but do not always understand, and united with a God I love but do not always understand.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/pek...

Stay connected! Subscribe to the Disability Torah Project newsletter and get powerful new Torah insights from disabled writers delivered to your inbox each week. www.disabilitytorah.org/subscribe

“It is through recognizing the way we must act carefully in order to survive, that we’re able to get through each day. It’s a concept as integral to the lives of disabled people as it is to Jewish tradition." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/vay...

Please take a couple of minutes to read this piece. It's important. "We have ignored the perspectives, stories & voices of disabled people for so long that their actual needs, feelings and experiences are hardly acknowledged."

Since the start of COVID, the number of people reporting a disability soared. Yet the majority of the world acts like COVID is over, and Long COVID doesn't exist.

No one prepares you for the guilt & fear you experience when you become chronically ill. Even if you’re lucky enough to have a supportive family/partner… there’s always the fear they could leave. The guilt that you’re a burden. The pain of wishing you didn’t NEED someone so much.

“Allowing this parasha to guide us, we might even go so far as to say that our idea of health is a false idol that we have been taught to worship." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/kit...

"To become disabled, I had to allow myself to be consecrated by the people who were wisest of heart. [...] I had to state what I needed, just as explicitly as G-d stated Her intricate instructions to Moses." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/tet...

The JBI (former Jewish Braille Institute) has sponsored audio recordings of two Jewish Poetry Project titles: Rodger Kamenetz's THE MISSING JEW and Maya Bernstein's NO PLACE WITHOUT YOU. 1/5

“To know God as disabled is to transform how we read Torah, as disability becomes embedded in every letter of every word. Once we understand God to be disabled, the details of the Mishkan change. No longer just instruction, they are divine accommodations.” www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/ter...

the chronically disabled brain fog experience of sitting down to do something and absolutely having no idea why

Throughout the Torah, we are taught not to oppress the stranger in our communities, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. [...] Why are we being asked by God to “know the feelings of the stranger”? www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/mis...

Understand the “Self” The limits of Halacha Experts vs Personal Experience We are going to cover it all in Neuroqueer Talmud

we often speak about the lack of access for disabled people in cities - the lack of transport, the pavements, architecture, urban design, etc. but what about the lack of access of disabled people in the countryside? where pavements don't exist. where public transport doesn't exist?

Neuroqueer Talmud is here A 7-week journey into Talmud study that disrupts hierarchy, embraces queerness & neurodivergence, and reclaims Jewish learning as radical, embodied, & ours We’re not just learning Talmud - we’re adding our voices to it Join us www.theautisticrabbi.com/autistic-tor...

#disabilityjustice isn't just for disabled folks, it's a framework for liberation that benefits EVERYONE. 🗣️ learn the 10 principles of #disability justice (intersectionality, anti-capitalism, sustainability, interdependence, collective liberation & more!) here: wid.org/moving-from-...

Section 504 says all organizations that accept $$ from the gov (schools, hospitals, businesses) MUST accommodate people with disabilities, & protect them from discrimination/poor treatment. Section 504 is a GOOD thing. If you live in the 17 states that are suing to overturn it, CALL YOUR REPS!!

A kavanah and blessing I wrote for staying seated during the amidah Feeling more empowered to create the things I need ritualwell.org/ritual/a-kav...

"Imagine that you, a wanderer with a speech disability, are told by the divine presence itself that you are the one who will lead your people out of bondage and oppression. You rally your people, who are skeptical at first, and you take on the authorities." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/yit...

Writing Disability Torah workshop ritualwell.org/event/writin...

Talmud belongs to all of us. Talmud is a sea of different thinking. Talmud is a site of neuroqueer discovery. Come join us for my upcoming course! No prior study of Talmud or Jewish texts neccesary. This is for EVERYONE. www.theautisticrabbi.com/autistic-tor...

Will I see you at Lehrhaus on Monday? www.lehr.haus/classes/sign...

I'm giving out four mini-grants this year to people who want to make disability justice-related zines. Deadline #1: April 18 Notification: May 16 Deadline # 2: September 12 Notification: October 13 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"Learning how to unmask as an Autistic person is not a direct path, and although it is a joyful and ultimately liberating process, it is also rife with pain, self-doubt, and regret. Unlearning ableism is a life-long process." www.disabilitytorah.org/writings/bes...

“Nobody knows what will happen next” Except disabled people DO know. Multiply marginalized disabled people REALLY know. We don’t have to “wait and see” because we’ve ALREADY SEEN. Decades & decades & decades of exclusion. Often by omission. We see what’s happening always. We’re the canaries.

What is it about sudden darkness that makes the penultimate plague in Parashat Bo so terrifying for the Egyptians? And what was the nature of the light that sustained the Israelites within their dwellings? disabilitytorah.org/writings/bo-5785

I'm so humbled that so many of you have signed up for NEUROQUEER TALMUD. Due to popular demand, I've opened up 6 additional spots. I'm so excited to learn with you! www.theautisticrabbi.com/autistic-tor...

If we are b’tzelem elohim, does that mean God also has tummy issues?