JDAIM 2020
During Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month in February, PAS will turn attention to the sometimes hidden disabilities of mental illness and addiction.
Park Avenue Synagogue is deeply committed to creating a spiritual home for our community where everyone is viewed as being “created in the image of God.” Our Inclusion Committee works tirelessly to make sure that our community is welcoming and accessible for all members and guests.
This month, in recognition of JDAIM, community members will again speak from the bimah on Friday evenings during Kabbalat Shabbat. In addition, we are honored to welcome Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson as our speaker on February 23–25. A longtime advocate of human dignity and inclusion and the father of a child with special needs, Rabbi Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy and Theology from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, focusing on the integration of science and religion advocating Process Theology. Rabbi Artson will speak at Shabbat dinner on Friday evening about his personal experience of raising a child with special needs.
Inclusion is not a series of programs, but rather a priority and a value that frames how we approach one another. As we continue our efforts toward becoming a fully inclusive community, PAS leadership has a created an Inclusion Fund to support our development and implementation of programs and training. You can learn more about this fund and make contributions here.
The title for Rabbi Artson’s Friday evening talk frames our aspirations: My House Shall Be a House for All People: Building a Truly Inclusive Community. We hope you will join us and learn how you can be part of making this vision a reality.