Thought for Shabbat

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, is one that gives us pause. In the middle of the Book of Leviticus it details the many handicaps a person could have that would exclude him from holy spaces and forbid him from offering certain sacrifices to God. There is no way to explain this away other than to say it was written in a certain context and time. Now, some 3500 years later our understanding of people with disabilities is the exact opposite of what the authors of the Torah portion suggest.

Those with disabilities allow us to see that holiness comes in all shapes and sizes, all levels of ability – all people, God’s children have something to offer this world that is unique, meaningful and powerful. While we have witnessed so many of those experiences at our Temple, one was capture in the new in 2006 and I list the link here. It is the story of my friend Arye Kramsky and his Bar Mitzvah. In fact, I saw Arye at services just last week and he repeated his Torah portion to me – holiness still resounds 11 years after his Bar Mitzvah (read more here ).

Our Congregation strives to be a leader in the special needs world as I believe Torah is for everyone, not just those who can read it. In fact, our support group for parents whose children have special needs developed a resource guide for venders who specialize in kids with special needs (eg…dentists, barbers, tutors, etc…). Feel free to download it and use it here.

Judaism is a dynamic religion, always reforming and developing. Our Torah portion this week got it wrong – the essence of Judaism is to grow to get it right. Let’s all move in that forward direction.