JDAIM @ GJC - Germantown Jewish Centre

As part of JDAIM Month, the GJC Accessibility Committee will present the following programs:

JDAIM SHABBAT

Saturday, February 1, 2025
10:00 AM
Charry Sanctuary & Broadcast Live on StreamSpot

To join on livestream, please click HERE.
Check your email for the passcode.

With Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub presenting the D’var Torah:

The Ninth Plague and the Challenges of Disability and Inclusion

In our D’var Torah on Shabbat Bo, we will unpack various approaches to the ninth plague of Darkness, highlighting connections with experiences of “Disability.” We will touch on Socio-spiritual issues of detachment and inclusion, being seen and invisibility, trust and mistrust, intimacy and strangerhood, bodily integrity and the threat of degeneration. A short discussion will follow.
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub served as the Rabbinic Director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York for over 25 years. Through the National Center of Jewish Healing and the New York Jewish Healing Center programs, he wrote and taught about the use of Jewish spiritual resources in confronting illness, loss, and trauma. His “Chronic Illness Resume” includes Type I Diabetes (since 1981) and Parkinson’s (since 2013).

If you require accommodations, please email Debrah Cohen.

Sunday, February 2, 2025
10:00 AM on Zoom
Our Tradition’s Lessons on Full Participation of People with Disabilities
A Talk & Discussion with Disability Rights and Civil Rights Attorney David Ferleger

Starting with the intriguing question, “WHEN A BLIND PERSON SLAUGHTERS AN ANIMAL, IS THE SLAUGHTER VALID UNDER JEWISH LAW?” David will discuss:
- How Torah, Talmud and other authorities address disability issues
- How People with Disabilities participate in Jewish practice and ritual
- How Jewish tradition has accommodated the needs of those with disabilities
GJC Congregant David Ferleger has had a legal practice for more than fifty years in public interest, civil rights and disability rights.