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Disability Rights

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Roberta Galler, 1936 - 2014

Roberta Galler was among hundreds arrested in Jackson, Mississippi in June 1965 protesting local attempts to subvert implementation of the new Voting Rights Act... Rabbi Perry Nussbaum came into the cell housing Roberta and several other Jewish women. Holding up toothbrushes, soap, and other small necessities, he said, "Okay, who in here are my people?" Roberta stepped forward and said "Either all of us are your people or none of us are your people."

Maralee Gordon

Rabbi Maralee Gordon helped found the Chutzpah Collective, a radical Jewish political collective that utilized the inclusion of women in religious rituals as a jumping-off point for making all Jews feel welcome in the Jewish community regardless of disability or sexual orientation.

Sue Wolf-Fordham

Sue Wolf-Fordham’s experience as the parent of a special-needs child drove her to create resources for families of disabled children around the world.

Gertrude Webb

Gertrude Webb’s compassion for struggling students led her to found programs for teaching both children and adults with learning disabilities.

Edith Furstenberg

A social worker and homemaker, Edith Furstenberg dedicated her life to family and the pursuit of social justice.

Ann Meyers Kaplan

Ann Meyers Kaplan’s family moved to Seattle from New York City in 1910 when Ann was three. Her father opened a tailoring business in Pioneer Square. For Ann’s parents and many Russian émigrés like them, the Settlement House and the socialist-leaning Workmen’s Circle were centers of Jewish community life. A graduate of Garfield High School, Ann worked as a bookkeeper in Seattle, later moving to San Francisco. She returned to Seattle after eloping with Ben Kaplan in 1935, who wooed her long-distance for three years. For the next 50 years, Ann served as bookkeeper in his company. After their daughter lost her hearing at age three, Ann devoted much of her time to seeking experimental treatments, advocating for the hearing impaired, and raising a second child, a son.

Jewish Day School Classroom

That “Aha” Moment

Tamar Benjamin

Every child deserves the right to learn. Every Jewish child deserves to have a Jewish education. Every teacher should have the opportunity to watch a child have that “aha” moment. Every child deserves to learn without having any stumbling blocks in his or her path and as a teacher, it is my pleasure, to ensure that there are never any in stumbling blocks in the way.

Rebecca Affachiner flies the first Israel flag

May 14, 1948

"The Betsy Ross of Israel" sewed and flew the first Israeli flag after the state was founded

Idit Klein, 2005

Nine more women for the Forward 50

Kate Bigam

As it does every year, the Forward recently published its “Forward 50” – and just like every year, the list is short on women.

Who is Frida Kahlo?

Leah Berkenwald

Tomorrow we celebrate the 104th birthday of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist known for her striking self-portraits. Kahlo's work was largely influenced by pain after a bus accident left her with permanent disabilities, making her an inspirational figure from a disability point of view.

In 2006, conceptual identity performance artist Maya Escobar (@mayaescobar) created a Youtube video called "el es frida kahlo," below.

Shoshannah Stern Takes a Silent Stand Against Sexual Violence

Renee Ghert-Zand

The deaf Jewish actress Shoshannah Stern is more than a little bit angry — and for good reason.

Caryn Surkes, 1956 - 2011

Caryn tenaciously challenged complacency, resignation, and lack of creativity wherever she found it. With her characteristic absence of judgment, she continually modeled for everyone the holding of hope for all those struggling with physical and mental disabilities.

תרומה –תצוה (Exodus 25- 30:10) T'rumah and T'tzaveh-- And you shall be a blessing....

Elyssa Cohen

February is Jewish Disability Awareness month. Awareness itself is an interesting term to wrap your mind around, it makes me ask: how are we building “awareness” and about what specifically? Are we being ‘aware’ just by engaging in conversations about disabilities? How do we talk about disability, in what context, and what actions are we taking in our society to help those who may have different physical or mental challenges.

Jewish Disability Awareness Month Logo

Jewish Disability Awareness Month: What you should know

Kate Bigam

February is Black History Month. It’s also American Heart Month, International Boost Self-Esteem Month, National Snack Food Month, and Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month. Yes, seriously. But for the Jewish community, this February also marks the 3rd annual Jewish Disability Awareness Month, described as “a unified effort to raise awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in Jewish communities worldwide.”

Eta Chait Wrobel, 1916 - 2008

Her life was filled with the love of giving and of fighting for truth, justice, and the Jewish people.

Isabelle Charlotte Weinstein Goldenson, 1921 - 2005

My mother's inspiration and perseverance resulted in the development of a light-weight wheelchair, multi-directional conveyances which can climb stairs, remote control 'space garments' to move limbs, sensory devices to help the blind, amongst many other breakthroughs and my mother united the worlds of science, technology and medicine in the first-ever collaboration!

Ruth Segel, 1913 - 2007

…'She, in some ways, was way ahead of her time,' said her daughter Margaret Shapiro, of Philadelphia. 'Although she had a nice life, once it became nice, she really wasn't satisfied until she had a career of her own. And she wasn't from a family or a community that encouraged women to have careers of their own. But she stuck to wanting to have her own skills and her own career.'

Jean W. Rothenberg, 1909 - 2007

…her hearing loss prevented her from hearing all of what she wanted to, but she turned that sorrow into her greatest gift—that of restoring human communication for others with hearing loss.

Mazel tov, Chai Feldblum

Judith Rosenbaum

On Monday, President Obama announced his nomination for Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and I couldn't be happier about his pick: Chai Feldblum, Professor of Law at Georgetown, who also happens to be an out Jewish lesbian.

Martha Minow appointed Dean of Harvard Law School

July 1, 2009

The President and Fellows of Harvard University appointed Martha Minow, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard, Dean of the Law School on July 1, 2009.

Remembering Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Isabelle Charlotte Weinstein Goldenson

Leah Berkenwald

Last week, hundreds of people attended the wake of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was instrumental in founding the Special Olympics.  Shriver, who passed away August 11, 2009, leaves behind a legacy of activism for the rights and dignity of the mentally disabled. 

In reading the coverage of Shriver's passing, I couldn't help but notice the parallels between her story and the story of Isabelle Charlotte Weinstein Goldenson, a disability rights activist and co-founder of United Cerebral Palsy, who passed away in 2005. 

 

Happy birthday, Frida Kahlo!

Judith Rosenbaum

Today would have been the 102 birthday of Frida Kahlo, the painter famous for her striking self-portraits and her marriage to Diego Rivera (not to mention her impressive eyebrows). Though she came to be known for her representations of Mexican life and was, in fact, referred to as La Mexicana -- the quintessential Mexican woman -- her work often explored issues of identity and its hybridity, informed by her own experience as the daughter of a German Jewish immigrant father and a Mexican Catholic mother.

Mayyim Hayyim, a progressive community mikveh, opens

May 14, 2004
Innovative community mikveh and education center in Newton, Massachusetts, gives new meaning to ancient ritual

Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills was a trailblazing opera singer who, after a robust singing career at the New York City Opera Company (NYCO) and the Metropolitan Opera House, became the first female director of the NYCO, and the first female chair of the Lincoln Center board. Sills defied the odds in her career accomplishments while raising two children with disabilities and being actively involved with several charitable organizations.

Jessie Ethel Sampter

Jessie Sampter was an important Zionist activist, writer, and educator. As an influential member of Hadassah, the woman’s Zionist organization, she advocated for an inclusive vision of Zionism. Putting her ideas into practice, she moved to Palestine in 1919. Although Sampter’s disability and non-normative family structure did not align with Zionist ideals of strong, healthy bodies, she championed Zionism, though not always uncritically.

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