First of all, thank you to everyone who made last weekend’s Joey Weisenberg visit so special. It was beautiful to hear your voices throughout the weekend and to get to listen deeply with you.
February is Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). As of 2023, HEA is part of Jewish Family Service’s Jewish Disabilities Advocates (JDA) Collaborative. JDA’s theme for JDAIM 2024 is “Circles of Support.” JDA describes four necessary Circles of Support:
- family and close friends
- friends, neighbors, and co-workers
- community members or organizations with which we interact regularly, and
- service providers and/or professionals, such as teachers, coaches, health care providers, therapists, paid caregivers, etc.
JDA created a beautiful resource about the benefits of Circles of Support, how individuals with disabilities might interact with Circles of Support differently than non-disabled people, the role of Jewish organizations in Circles of Support, and avenues of providing support to caregivers and individuals with disabilities. Check out that resource HERE.
The theme of Circles of Support reminds me that kol yisrael arevim ze baze - all of us are responsible for one-another. This phrase comes from Tractate Shavuot 39a of the Babylonian Talmud. This line emphasizes that our communal well-being is based on interdependence.
On Friday evening, February 9, we will commemorate JDAIM with an Azamra Kabbalat Shabbat Service (6:00-7:15 p.m.) and dinner (7:15-8:00 p.m.). The service will feature music related to the theme of Circles of Support, discussion of how we can all ask for support, and congregants sharing their experiences of giving and receiving support. We will have an American Sign Language interpreter, transliterated large-print prayer books, magnifying glasses with lights, ear plugs, accessible seating options and a quiet room for anyone experiencing sensory overload. The service will be in the HEA chapel, which is wheelchair accessible from the parking lot using our elevator. Register for Azamra HERE. Please contact our office at (303)758-9400 or info@HEAenver.org to discuss any other accommodations that you or your loved ones might need.
I’d like to give a shoutout to our Disabilities Advocacy Committee for fueling our process of continually improving the accessibility of our programs and services.
Besides being Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month, February also includes Repro Shabbat, a celebration that honors the Jewish value of reproductive freedom. And February also contains Refugee Shabbat, an invitation for congregations, organizations and individuals to express solidarity with the global Jewish movement for refugee protection and welcome. These commemorations all emphasize our dependence on Circles of Support. Maybe our refugee grandparents depended on neighbors for childcare as they worked long sweatshop jobs to support their newly-American families. Maybe we have depended on the advice and love of our friends or siblings when making decisions about when to have a baby or not. Maybe we have had the honor of supporting a refugee family from Afghanistan by providing children’s clothing or toys. Maybe we have had the honor of supporting young women in our community by writing letters to politicians begging our representatives to protect reproductive freedom. We all provide and receive support and all depend on one-another. Join us tomorrow and next Saturday, February 10, at 10:30 a.m. to explore Jewish perspectives on refugees and reproductive rights as part of our Torah for Today classes.
As we begin this auspicious month, may we all experience deeply the idea that kol yisrael arevim ze baze. May we ask for support when we need it and may we provide support when we can.
Shabbat Shalom,
Eitan Kantor, HEA Musical Director
