In The Image of God

For some kids, it is harder to put the pieces together.

I recently received an invitation to the tenth anniversary celebration for MATAN: The Gift of Jewish Learning for Every Child. It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since I witnessed the birth of this organization, whose work is to support Jewish communities, educational professionals and institutions in welcoming and educating children with learning differences and disabilities. It is also hard to believe that by now there are not many more such organizations and initiatives in the non-Orthodox world.

Among Orthodox Jews, a Jewish education is a birthright. In these communities, the imperative of “veshinantem l’vanecha”, you shall teach your children, applies to all children. For the most part, public or non-Orthodox Jewish education is not an option, so Orthodox school systems have always been set up to be inclusive of children with special needs.

Not so among the rest of us. For a long time now, children with special needs have been excluded from congregational school settings, and day schools have not had the budget or expertise to accommodate students with any challenges that exceed the most minor of learning differences.

Fan mail sent to Lior, the boy with Down Syndrome who is the subject of the film, "Praying With Lior" (see below)

One reason special needs Jewish education has not risen to the top of the community’s agenda is because children with special needs and their families are generally living and operating below the radar. They have either tried to be part of the life of a synagogue or school and their needs have not been met, or they have never even attempted to be part of the community for fear of rejection.

This is not to say that there are no organizations or departments of central agencies for education addressing the needs of children with special needs. There are just not enough of them, and there is not sufficient cooperation and leveraging of resources among those who are trying to make an impact.

I am heartened by the fact that the synagogues, day schools and JCC of the North Peninsula (south of San Francisco) have come together with the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco and San Francisco’s Bureau of Jewish Education in a joint, community-wide initiative to be more inclusive of special needs children and their families. It will raise awareness among the general Jewish community about disabilities and will include training for congregational and day school teachers on learning disabilities and inclusion techniques. There are also plans to hire learning aides and to incorporate assistive technology for students who have problems with writing, spelling or speech.

The moving 2007 documentary film, Praying With Lior, has been shown to audiences in the past couple of years to raise awareness of the need to support and include children with special needs in the Jewish community and Jewish schools and camps. It was not lost on me that although Lior comes from an observant, yet egalitarian home and is a welcomed and beloved member of his family’s synagogue community, his Jewish formal education takes place in an Orthodox yeshiva day school.

Watching Lior’s quest to become bar mitzvah moved me to tears – in joy for Lior’s journey and accomplishments, but also in sadness that we still have a long way to go in terms of recognizing and nurturing the tzelem elohim (God’s likeness) and pintele yid (Jewish spark) in all of our children.

© 2010 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Tags: Bureau of Jewish Education, Jewish Community Federation, Jewish education, Jewish special education, Jewish special needs education, Matan, North Peninsula, Praying with Lior, special needs education, special needs inclusion