Yachad Marathon Raises $300,000 for Inclusion Programming
Miami, FL — Yachad, The National Jewish Council for Disabilities, and an agency of the Orthodox Union, announced that it raised a total of $300,000 in its annual 8th marathon in Miami on January 29, 2017.
With runners of all ages (from 12 to 65) and all abilities, coming from Israel, Canada, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond — the marathon drew 150 runners. Yachad’s IVDU Schools, based in Brooklyn, brought 25 students in addition to staff to participate in the marathon.
The Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus partnered with Team Yachad, with 15 runners from 3 different universities. Saw You At Sinai, the leading Orthodox dating website, offered singles programming over the weekend as well.
“It was amazing to see the partnerships that evolved over this week,” said Ken Saibel, Associate Director of Yachad, who ran for the 5th time this year. “Between the local Miami community’s warm support and race day participation, and over 30 food donations from various OU kosher companies for the marathon’s events, we were moved by the community’s investment in this special event.”
“It was awe-inspiring to witness individuals of all ages, abilities, and fitness levels reaching the finish line together,” said Marla Rottenstreich, Assistant Director of Yachad and a first-time marathon runner herself. “Team Yachad had such a profoundly strong presence at the 2017 Miami Marathon running hand in hand for disability inclusion; we shared our message loud and clear and have so very much to be proud of….as a team.”
Please find hi-res photos here, available for reprint with credit: https://uriarnsonphotography.pixieset.com/yachadmarathon2017highlights/
Photo credit: Uri Arnson Photography
This article was written by the OU Staff.
To view the original article on the Orthodox Union website, click here.
Including Everyone at the Tu BiShvat Seder
Congregation Shaarei Tefillah will be hosting its annual Tu BiShvat seder on Sunday, Feb. 12, co-sponsored by New England Yachad, K’Sharim, Ganei Beantown and other organizations.
Tucked between the lights of Hanukkah and the rituals of Passover is Tu BiShvat. Falling on the 15th of the Hebrew month Shevat, the holiday, according to the Talmud, celebrates the New Year of the Trees. Modern observance of Tu BiShvat emphasizes the crucial role trees play in our stewardship of the earth. One midrash explains, “If not for the trees, human life could not exist.” The late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel elaborated, “It is when nature is sensed as mystery and grandeur that it calls upon us to look beyond it.”
The Tu BiShvat seder originated with the Kabbalists in 16th-century Safed, Israel. The seder, with its four cups of wine and symbolic fruits, is loosely based on the logic of the Passover seder. It is also a ceremony that, in recent years, has been a symbol of inclusion in the Boston Jewish community. For Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, who leads it each year, the Tu BiShvat seder inspires his congregation, Shaarei Tefillah, “to be maximally inclusive” throughout the year.
For almost 20 years, Shaarei Tefillah has partnered with New England Yachad and K’Sharim, a conglomerate of organizations that includes Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters and Jewish Family & Children’s Service, to host a Tu BiShvat seder for adults of all abilities. This year, Ganei Beantown, a grassroots Jewish organization whose mission is to “coalesce efforts in the Greater Boston Jewish community to educate and engage our community in hands-on sustainable agricultural education and programs,” will be on board. The Ruderman Family Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Orthodox Union also sponsor the seder.
“This is a unique event, and we adapted the seder to have a fun activity in the middle of the winter,” says Liz Offen, executive director of New England Yachad. “It’s a Jewish holiday very few people know about, and we wanted [this event] to become the Tu BiShvat seder for the Jewish community, in conjunction with individuals and families [who] have special needs.” The annual seder draws between 120 and 145 people.
Shaarei Tefillah’s commitment to inclusivity has also been manifested through its inclusion committee. Judi Roth, a co-chair of the committee and one of the organizers of the synagogue’s seder, notes: “We quickly determined that we needed more understanding and sensitivity toward people with obvious and invisible disabilities. Our job is to bring up conversations, educate people and sensitize them to inclusion.” Roth and her committee have addressed everything from mental health issues to food allergies.
Rabbi Samuels breaks down the seder into three parts: teaching, eating and an activity. The teaching and eating meld together as he talks about the four cups of wine that represent the different seasons. “We start with white grape juice,” Samuels explains, “and increase its redness over the course of the four different cups.”
There are also four symbolic fruits that have some combination of a peel and pit. For example, the first fruit one eats has a hard shell, like a walnut or pistachio, that protects the edible inside. The Tu BiShvat Haggadah that Shaarei Tefillah uses explains it represents “things that are concrete, things that are physical—you can put your hands around them, open and see what’s inside. The hard shell is like the protection we get from the earth…. Also, when we open our personal shells to those around us, we can enjoy the sweetness of our inner selves and the sweetness of our friends and neighbors around us.”
That intention, very much at the heart of the inclusion community, also drives the Tu BiShvat seder. “A lot of our participants,” observes Offen, “don’t have the opportunity to have conversations in the way that many people typically do. We help facilitate conversation and build community. High school and college students will be at the tables to talk about trees in the Torah or ecology. Among the highest things we can do is learn words of Torah together, and Rabbi Samuels brings in that very special dynamic.” Roth similarly praises Samuels’ inclusivity. “He’s been a role model for the community,” she says.
The activity that’s part of the seder can be something as symbolic as stretching to the sky and swaying in the wind like trees. There’s also dancing and music. This year, participants will be decorating a wood medallion. Offen describes the activity as “very tactile. The goal is to feel the wood and to know that it came from a tree that fell and was not intentionally destroyed.”
In the synagogue foyer, there will be a three-dimensional tree with paper leaves on which people can write notes. Offen calls it a “wishing tree for the earth. It reminds us how precious our earth is and that God created it for us to be the caretakers.”
For more information and to register for the Tu BiShvat seder, click here.
This article was written by Judy Bolton-Fasman for Jewish Boston.
To view the original article, click here.
Yachad of Central NJ Provides Cultural Jewish Connection
Help get the word out: Nothing defines “together” more than “Yachad.” While Yachad, an organization “dedicated to enhancing the life opportunities of individuals with disabilities ensuring their participation in the full spectrum of Jewish life,” has been in existence for 30 years through the Orthodox Union nationally and internationally, Federation of Central NJ (Federation) brought it to Middlesex County after being approached by a group of parents with children of special needs.
Federation was interested in expanding programming. Yachad responded by starting a chapter servicing Middlesex County in the fall of 2012. The Central NJ Chapter of Yachad/NJCD, headed by co-coordinators Tobey Lass Karpel and Bracha Avraham, is under the umbrella of the NJ Yachad, with Chani Herrmann as director. Their mission is to help people navigate through life when they have a family member with special needs.
“We run an inclusion-based model, not programs just for individuals with special needs,” says Karpel. Currently, there are 30 families of individuals who have special needs in the Central NJ Chapter. They service individuals from ages 2-40, with different levels of functioning, including those with Down Syndrome.
Mainstream peers make up another 20 participants. The idea is for special needs individuals to have a place in the Jewish community. Karpel noted they work on doing that by providing social programs for individuals with special needs, as well as mainstream kids. They also offer one-on-one peer visits.
Karpel says being treated in the same environment as people without special needs is equalizing; individuals without special needs who come as peers see those with special needs as people first, with likes and interests, not as “others.” The peers are often students coming from local day schools, or locals from the community. Karpel added that being involved at Yachad gives them confidence, relationships and friendships.
A “J-Teens” group was started by Federation to teach teens about philanthropy. Federation guided two individuals who had an interest in getting a grant for horseback riding. One of the peers was interested in horseback riding and the other in people with special needs. The teens donated their own money and Federation matched it. They reached out to organizations for grant proposals. The teens voted on how the grant money would be used. Central NJ Yachad received the grant and started a horseback riding clinic, which is run by counselors who are trained in horseback riding by Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center.
Yachad got together with Special Strides Horse Farm in Monroe, where Laurie Landy, who opened the therapeutic center in 1998, arranged for horseback riding for individuals with special needs. On a given Sunday they have 10 special needs individuals from Central NJ Yachad enjoying the clinic.
The Central NJ chapter of Yachad is focused on providing additional targeted programming. Karpel stated, “Our group is looking for that cultural Jewish connection and we look to give it to them.” Herrmann acknowledged, “Tobey and Bracha are a tremendous resource for the community and are passionate about what they do.” She added, “They are always adapting to the times and needs of the families and always open to doing new things.”
Aside from the clinic, they run Shabbat buddies where peers are sent to special needs homes for Shabbat, and Moms’ Night Out, which provides fun activities, not as a formal support group. Eight moms participated last time when they did sushi making. Other times they have had a paint night or yoga. With help from Federation and Yachad, they offer moms’ night once or twice a year. They listen to the desires of the families, who this year requested more moms’ nights.
Karpel says what makes their organization unique is that they are constantly changing and evolving based on the needs of the families they service. Also offering sib shops (sibling workshops), programs for siblings of individuals with special needs, they are always looking to grow and expand their programming. While they do not offer respite care, all programs are two hours, allowing parents free time.
Sib shops run in conjunction with a monthly activity for the participants with special needs. According to Avraham it is especially nice since “the parents can drop off all their kids at once.” At sib shops they play a game, Avraham explained, giving them an outlet to express what it’s like to be a sibling of a kid with special needs. She added, “The kids who participate find it meaningful and productive.”
The Central NJ chapter is connected to all other resources Yachad has to offer, such as summer camp and Shabbatons. Programs such as the clinic are specific to the Central NJ area.
What they need are individuals with special needs to come to their door. Over the years Karpel has been with the program, she estimates she has seen 75 individuals come and go. Her vision for expansion sees all individuals with special needs in the community getting involved. She added, “If you tried us two years ago, we are not the same group. Talk to us. What do you want to see? The opportunities are endless.” Through gifts and grants they are constantly expanding their monthly programming to provide for the community. They need input on which programs to expand. Currently, the chapter has only one group of programs, with a short-term goal to divide younger and older individuals.
Most importantly, they want to spread the word that NJ Yachad has an open door. They are there for individuals with special needs in Central NJ, and their families, and are seeking volunteers who wish to participate. Herrmann pointed out that “the Middlesex County chapter is an integral part of the New Jersey region which cares deeply about families involved with them and that they are constantly looking for new families.”
This article was written by Sharon Mark Cohen for The Jewish Link of New Jersey.
To view the original article, click here.
Pamela Schuller’s Jewish Comedy of Disability and Inclusion
Comedian and inclusion activist Pamela Schuller will bring her distinct perspective on living with Tourette syndrome and Jewish life to Temple Beth Elohim on Sunday, Jan. 22.
“It’s easier to accept 613 mitzvot than to accept me,” quips comedian and inclusion advocate Pamela Schuller. Schuller, who is 31 and has Tourette syndrome, tours the world showcasing the humor and poignancy she finds inherent in living with disabilities and practicing Judaism. In a show entitled, “What Makes Me Tic: Comedy, Disability and Inclusion,” she will bring her unique perspective on life to Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. New England Yachad is sponsoring the event.
What was it like growing up with Tourette syndrome?
I grew up in the Midwest and was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when I was in third grade. By sixth grade my symptoms went from mild to severe. Shortly after, I was asked to leave school and then my synagogue. I know it wasn’t about me, per se. Teachers just didn’t know how to teach or conduct services over me. They didn’t know how to access resources or be creative about my situation. Even today a lot of synagogues would struggle with someone who barks and makes noises. A lot of what I’m doing is to make sure that if a synagogue wants to be more inclusive and find a way to truly celebrate someone, I can point them to resources. That’s why I do what I do.
How did things turn around for you at Jewish summer camp?
Camps in general are comfortable with creativity. My camp focused on embracing me and finding what I brought to the community. I’m sure they were frustrated when I was barking at night and nobody could go to sleep. But it never felt like they were collecting information so they had reasons to send me home. It felt like the director and the counselors were collecting information to get creative and embrace me. I was encouraged to talk about Tourette’s and ended up doing some stand-up to explain it. Comedy helped me approach subjects I didn’t know how to tackle otherwise.
Another turning point for you was attending boarding school, right?
Boarding school was the first place where I loved the way I learned, and the way my brain thinks differently. I wasn’t afraid to try new things. As an example, it was like a puzzle to get my brain to tackle chemistry in a fun, creative way. Then another time when I was in math class making a metronome-type sound, my math teacher, who was also a musician, called out my name. I thought he was going to ask me to leave the class. Instead, he said: “Pam sounds like a metronome. Let’s use that sound and write a song about math.” We actually wrote an entire CD about math, and I was a welcomed accompaniment in the background. That was an instance where even when it seems that we’re doing something for just one person or a few people, if we’re willing to look more deeply we’ll find it’s often beneficial for so many people.
I also found improv in boarding school. Improv showed me the first thing I loved about myself. In theater you get on stage to be someone else, but in improv you get on stage to be yourself. My barking and flailing became a part of the scene.
You have a unique perspective on inclusion and creativity in Judaism.
As a community we have always embraced creativity. When the temple was destroyed, we had to do things differently to continue to be Jewish. The more I work with communities, the more I bring it back to creativity. This led me to the “aha moment” of when God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt despite his speech impediment. God provided Aaron to support his brother as a mouthpiece should Moses need it. Aaron was an accommodation. That’s God getting creative, and that idea was transformative for me. You can lead with your strengths, but also be honest and upfront about your challenges. When I talk to a kid struggling with a diagnosis that makes him or her different, I point out that being different means you don’t always look at things head on. You can look at some things sideways, upside down or choose to look at things with a different lens. By the same token, I can’t give a prescription to a community to be creative or more inclusive, but I can give them tools and ideas.
What’s the role of comedy in your life now?
Comedy has become an incredible tool to facilitate conversation. If I don’t do a show for a week, it’s like not going to therapy. I need it. If I have a stressful week I have to get on stage and do a show to remind my brain I’m capable of performing. The moment I get on stage, it centers me like nothing else does. And sometimes when you have a disability, funny things just happen—the more I remember that they’re funny, the better the chances that I don’t get depressed or frustrated or angry. But sometimes I have to fight back. In graduate school I had extra time on tests, and one teacher said my accommodation was really inconvenient for her. I was fuming for days, but then I realized it was hilarious. I wrote back: “I’m so sorry this is inconvenient for you. Growing up with a neurological disorder was equally as inconvenient for me.”
This article was written by Judy Bolton-Fasman for Jewish Boston.
To view the original article on Jewish Boston’s site, click here.
Yachad Expands Services and Reach for Children with Autism
Yachad, the Orthodox Union’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities, announced it would be officially expanding its collaboration today with Proud Moments Therapy, a behavioral health agency providing services to children on the autism spectrum ages 0-21. Based in Brooklyn, PMT has four offices across New York and serves New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland, offering insurance-covered therapy to families across the region. Through this partnership, PMT therapists will work closely with Yachad summer program staff in preparation for and during summer programs. PMT specialists will develop participants’ personal programs, ensuring that their goals remain consistent throughout the year.
“We are very excited about this collaboration,” said Dr. Jeff Lichtman, International Director of Yachad, “Proud Moments Therapy offers unparalleled therapy services for children with autism, and we are happy that their talented and professional staff are joining forces with us. This is a milestone for Yachad, as we continue expanding our breadth and depth of services. Most importantly, it provides our children a seamless flow of appropriate and continuous service year round.”
Since its establishment, Yachad has been a leader in the special needs community, dedicated to addressing the needs of all Jewish individuals with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in every aspect of Jewish life. Touching thousands of Jews with disabilities every year, Yachad’s staff educates and advocates for greater understanding and acceptance, building a community where everyone has a place.
“Proud Moments’ Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) are licensed to create and implement behavioral programs for all of the child’s environments to improve social, behavioral and adaptive skills. PM offers services in PM facilities, home, school and camp settings throughout the tri-state area, and specializes in functional assessment, applied behavioral analysis therapy, and social, behavioral and communication skills training.
“Yachad is a household name in the Jewish community,” said Chanie Rubin, director at Proud Moments Therapy. “We are thrilled about this opportunity to be part of the iconic movement.”
For more information, visit yachad.org and proudmomentsaba.com, or contact Tobey Karpel at tlass@proudmomentsaba.com.
This article was written by the OU Staff.
To view the original article on the Orthodox Union’s website, click here.
Building a Community of Inclusion
New England Yachad is rapidly emerging as the region’s largest Jewish agency providing social and recreational programs for people of all ages, abilities and denominations.
Yachad—the Hebrew word for “together”—is the umbrella name for the National Jewish Council for Disabilities and a division of the Orthodox Union. Founded 30 years ago, Yachad’s mandate is singular: “To include those with developmental disabilities in all aspects of the Jewish community.”
With 12 regional offices in the United States, and one in Jerusalem and another in Toronto, the New England regional office serves the greatest number of participants outside of New York and New Jersey. Liz Offen, who directs the New England Yachad office out of Congregation Kehillath Israel, notes that its reach extends beyond Greater Boston and its suburbs to include Metrowest, Metro North, the North Shore, the South Area, Rhode Island and, most recently, central Massachusetts. “There is no other Jewish agency [in Massachusetts] with these kinds of perimeters, serving all ages, all abilities and all Jewish denominations,” says Offen.
In a wide-ranging interview with JewishBoston, Offen’s passion for Yachad is palpable, and even infectious. “Yachad is a life changer,” she says. “It takes previously isolated people and gives them a purpose.” Offen came on board as New England Yachad’s first full-time director three years ago. With a background in social justice, Jewish education and program management, the Newton native notes that, “I’ve almost always worked in underserved communities where I felt it was important to have a strong commitment to improving the circumstances of individuals isolated socially in society.”
Yachad offers a young adult outdoor adventure club that includes kayaking. (Courtesy Waypoint Adventures)
Yachad is the ideal incubator for Offen’s dedication to Jewish learning and building community for those who are on the margins. She credits much of the organization’s growing success to partnerships with the Orthodox Union, the Ruderman Family Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Congregation Kehillath Israel.
Offen is quick to emphasize that Yachad’s overall affiliation with the Orthodox Union does not preclude it from being open to all denominations. To prove the point, she notes that the organization’s many programs happen in area synagogues across Judaism’s denominations. “Here in New England, we are able with chazak—strength—to partner with everyone who wants to partner with us, including synagogues and community service agencies such as Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters and Gateways,” she says. “We also regularly provide referrals to Jewish Family & Children’s Service and Yad Chessed. We are very mindful that we don’t want to duplicate what anyone else is doing, and we work closely with directors of other agencies to make sure of that.”
Part of Yachad’s work is supported by a generous grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation, which shares Yachad’s vision of inclusion. Offen says the grant, now in its fourth year, “has helped us to quickly put boots on the ground to serve the community with a very robust array of services. We provide over 300 programs a year.”
One of Yachad’s signature programs is Shabbatons. “Our Shabbatons are two-day spiritual retreats in the community,” Offen says. “It’s a great opportunity for people with disabilities to come together to celebrate Shabbat as part of a larger community celebration. And it’s the sort of genuine fun you would have at camp.” Summer camp programs are also under the aegis of Yachad. In 1999, Yachad opened its first sleepaway camp program at Camp Morasha in Lakewood, Pa. The two-week program began with just nine campers; the following summer Camp Morasha held a full summer session. Other camps followed suit and to date there are almost 30 Yachad summer programs, including Yad B’ Yad (Hand in Hand), a five-week inclusive summer program in Israel.
In many ways, Yad B’ Yad demonstrates the essence of Yachad’s inclusive model. Half of its participants have special needs, while the other half interacts with them as peer participants. Offen explains that the peer participants go on the trip with Yachad members as equals. “These students go because it’s fun, not because it’s chesed (mercy) or tzedakah (charity),” she says. “We use the phrase ‘peer participants’ because they are not volunteers, but equal participants. Another example is the 200 high school students participating in Yachad clubs at Gann Academy and Maimonides School, and we’re expanding to work with youth groups as well as other day schools.”
Love of Israel has continued to figure prominently in Yachad’s agenda. In 2000, Taglit Birthright Israel began trips that afforded young adults with disabilities the same opportunity to experience Israel as their peers. Offen observes that, “parents who love Israel want their children to love Israel too. They want their children to go on this amazing phenomenon called Birthright. Yachad Birthright is basically the same trip with added support staff. It’s a huge benefit for me, as a regional director, to be part of a national organization where I can offer this experience.”
When Offen first arrived at Yachad, she had a mailing list in the low double digits. From there she has overseen the organization’s exponential growth. Yachad currently provides some form of support to almost 1,000 people, including family members of individuals with disabilities and special needs. Offen and her small part-time staff, which includes a social worker, also manage 350 volunteers and peers whose work ranges from interacting one-on-one with Yachad members to connecting with Yachad’s young adults participating in an outdoor adventure club.
“What we’re trying to do as we grow is to build a parallel peer group for each of our age groups,” says Offen. “Yachad has been around for a long time, but we are experiencing unprecedented growth and a rebirth in Boston. It’s a great problem to have—we can barely keep up with the interest in our programs and requests for services.”
See original article at: http://www.jewishboston.com/building-a-community-of-inclusion/
Team Yachad Announces Marathon Move From Las Vegas to Miami
New York, NY — Yachad, the National Council for Jewish Disabilities, announced it is moving its annual marathon back to Miami, after the Las Vegas race provider unexpectedly postponed its race to early April, due to unforeseen circumstances related to the course.
“We have decided to take these lemons and make lemonade out of them,” said Marla Rottenstreich, Assistant Director of Yachad. “We’re keeping runners’ vacation/yeshiva break plans by moving our race from Las Vegas back to Miami, as we had originally planned. We hope our committed participants and runners will join us in a warmer climate.”
The Marathon and Half Marathon is one of the organization’s largest fundraisers, with all proceeds raised going directly to help those with disabilities to attend many of Yachad’s famous Shabbatonim, summer programs, and an array of other inclusive activities. Each participant raises a minimum of $3,000 in order to run; last year, Yachad raised over $300,000 in net profits.
The run is scheduled to take place in Miami on Sunday January 29, 2017 at 5:50am, starting at 601 Biscayne Boulevard, in front of the American Airlines Arena, and finishing at 301 Biscayne Boulevard, adjacent to Bayfront Park. All accommodations, flights and kosher food have been secured for participants, and runners will receive updates shortly.
“Please tell us you’ll enjoy a lemonade with our team in Miami, and that we can continue to count on you to raise these essential funds to further the incredible work and services provided by Yachad,” said Rottenstreich. “See you in the Sunshine State!”
For more information, contact Ahuva Stern at SternA@ou.org or check out miami.teamyachad.com.
This article was written by the OU Staff.
To view the original article on the Orthodox Union website, click here.
Everyone wants to be included
New Jersey Yachad celebrates its 10th anniversary as a beacon for people with special needs
By Joanne Palmer, Jewish Standard Times of Israel
Yachad means together. It shares a root with the word “echad” — one — but it’s all about bringing things together. It’s about creating community.
There’s more than one mission driving Yachad, the Orthodox Union organization that works withpeople with disabilities. The overarching goal — to create, encourage, and maintainan environment that includes everybody, no matter what their abilities and disabilities — includes the burning desire to find a space for everyone, both inside and outsidethe Jewish world. That means that just as people with disabilities must be welcomed into the larger Jewish community, and to the world of work and play outside it, so must the community learn to feel comfortable enough to welcome them, and to do so genuinely.
That’s a tall order.
And the only way to make any of it work is to focus on every single person. Together, they make up the whole.
Chani Herrmann, the creator and director of New Jersey Yachad, knows that. She began to work with Yachad in the late 1980s, when she was a 10-year-old summer camper and it was a fairly new organization with offices in New York and the goal of working with teenagers and young adults.
Now, Ms. Herrmann, who lives in Teaneck, is about to be honored as New Jersey Yachad celebrates its 10th anniversary.
“When Yachad started, in 1983, there were no Jewish programs providing social opportunities on an inclusive level for people with disabilities,” Ms. Herrmann said. “Now, it serves a wide range of people with special needs. Some are on the autism spectrum, some have Down syndrome or cerebral palsy or learning disabilities or traumatic brain injury. The beautiful thing about Yachad is that it is open to everyone, even if you don’t have special needs. Everyone gains something.”
So what is Yachad? And what is New Jersey Yachad? What do they do?
Yachad offers afterschool programs for children with disabilities, usually beginning when they are 7 years old. One is in a day school, the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey — plans call for that program to expand to other day schools — and one is part of a larger, non-Jewish, non-special-needs art program. It has Shabbatonim for them, and retreats for them and their families. It has a vocational training program for people who have aged out of school. It gives workshops to help parents learn how to navigate the social service system, to accept their feelings and learn how to cope with them, to understand their children’s medical issues. It brings young people with special needs together with their peers who are not similarly challenged.
The New Jersey chapter, headquartered in Teaneck, has pioneered some of those programs, under Ms. Herrmann’s leadership.
Ms. Herrmann’s early and thorough immersion in Yachad was directly responsible for her life’s work.
“I was at Camp Hillel in Swan Lake, in the Catskills,” she said. “It was my first summer, and there was all this talk about Yachad coming for Shabbat. I didn’t know what it meant.
“And then this big bus comes down the road and pulls up, and participants from Yachad and their counselors get off the bus. And that weekend made such an impact on me. It was the first time I had spent significant time with people who had special needs, and it was in such a warm setting.”
Because it was before Yachad was able to expand to work with children, all the participants were young adults. It didn’t matter.
“One of the things I remember was how the staff of my camp interacted with the people from Yachad. And one young woman from Yachad got up and gave a d’var Torah, in front of a roomful of people.” She didn’t think that she could have done it then, she remembers thinking. Not in front of all those people.
“The seeds were planted in me,” she said. She grew up in Queens. “My synagogue, Young Israel of Hillcrest, was one of the first to host Shabbatons,” she continued. “They started in the 1980s. They still do. There was a Yachad chapter in my high school, HAFTR, too, and we had a Shabba-ton in the Five Towns.” The Five Towns, of course, are the heavily Jewish part of Long Island’s south shore, and home to HAFTR.
“And I continued to be involved in my college years,” she continued; she coordinated Yachad for the borough. Next, she went to Columbia’s social work school, and continued to work part time for Yachad.
In 2000, newly married, she moved to Teaneck, and looked for a job. “I saw there was a job opening for Yachad, working in its national program.” Needless to say, that job had her name on it. “I worked there for five years, in the national programming department,” she said. “I oversaw chapters outside the metropolitan area, helped with the programming, and did outreach.” But she lived in Teaneck, and her imagination was sparked by her new community.
“In 2006, we decided that it really was time to open a local branch in New Jersey,” she said. “We always had people from New Jersey who participated in Yachad, but my very strong feeling was that we had to pro- vide support to families in New Jersey.
“During the first five years that I lived here, I was meeting families with children with special needs. They didn’t know what Yachad was, or that it could help their child. It became clear to me that if we were not helping parents, holding their hands, they would not become part of the Yachad family.
“When your child is diagnosed with a disability, it could feel isolating and scary,” she said. “Having a caring and professional staff that can sit with you, hear your story, help guide you, and have a relationship that takes you through every stage of your family’s life — that can be so important.”
Reassuring parents is so important, in fact, that the first New Jersey Yachad program was a parents support group. Back then, Ms. Herrmann was the only staff member in New Jersey. “I really needed to get my pulse on the county, to see who the parents are and what they needed,” she said.
“I think that one of the biggest turning points in terms of growth for us was five years ago, when I had a parent come to me whose daughter was 22. She was sitting at home doing nothing. She was done with school, had tried a day program but it wasn’t meeting her needs. Her mother said, ‘Please start a vocational program.’
“It was just one parent, but sometimes it only takes one parent. So we became a provider of DDD services” — that’s the state division of developmental disabilities — “so we can provide these services, and we can help our families go through those steps to get funding.
“We went from one person in the region to five, and now it’s over 25, and our new vocational training program is the fastest growing department in New Jersey Yachad.”
As their participants have grown up, Yachad’s span has broadened. “The oldest participants, who started in their teens, are now in their 60s. We have started working with families on issues of aging, both for themselves and for their children. The youngest child we work with is 5, and parents come to us as soon as their babies are diagnosed.”
The vocational program is new, and it is complex. “We have about 25 or so participants,” Ms. Herrmann said. “They’re 21 or older; the oldest one is about 35. Participants come from all over — from Teaneck, Elizabeth, Highland Park, West Orange — from all over the state.
“They come in the morning, and then they go to a job site with a job coach. They spend several hours working, and then in the late afternoon they come back for different classes, social skills, and other therapeutic activities.
“Every participant goes to a different job, and each one has a job coach. In the beginning, the job coach will be more involved; the goal is that they will scale back in terms of how hands-on they will be.
“A really exciting thing is that we hired a part-time job developer to look for jobs. That is her job.”
The jobs — actually more like internships, which might end up as paying jobs — have included being an assistant in an early childhood classroom, working in food service, washing and styling wigs, packaging at an Amazon warehouse, and doing administrative work in an office. “In the beginning, when we first meet them, we try them on a variety of jobs to see what their skills are,” Ms. Herrmann said. “That’s what the program is about. Everyone is a unique individual. And even if someone has learned work skills, it doesn’t mean that they know appropriate work-place etiquette. That’s the job coach’s job, to teach about things like chain of command, what to do at a lunch break, what do you talk about and not talk about, and how to make eye contact.
“It’s a lifelong process,” she said. The family retreat, which is for people from New York and New Jersey, is a yearly highlight, Ms. Herrmann said. “This year close to 1,000 people participated. It draws children of all ages for Shabbes. The parents have a weekend filled with workshops with professionals, and there are sessions for siblings and a day camp for the really young children. There are programs for Yachad participants all weekend long. Parents come with married children and grandchildren.”
As part of its commitment to inclusion, Yachad serves the whole Jewish community, and she’s very proud of that, Ms. Herrmann said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone’s affiliation is, and non-Orthodox Jews take advantage of it.
“It is open to everyone. That’s one of the things that is so beautiful about it. We break down barriers, and people can see what they have in common with each other.”
Among the broken-down barriers are the ones that separate children with disabilities from those without them. Some of the afterschool programs are for every-one. Often, Ms. Herrmann said, “typically developing kids come to these programs thinking that they are coming to give, but really they end up getting so much more. They have fun. Everyone is treated equally.
“We live in a community where parents want their kids to be involved in as many meaningful activities as they can,” she added. “There are competitive activities, like sports, and parents say that’s all good, but they also want meaningful experiences. Also, many parents believe — and it is true — that if their kids are involved in a program like Yachad, it will have a long-term effect on their character development.”
And often, she said, children come because their parents were involved, as Ms. Herrmann was, when they were young, perhaps at a Shabbaton or at camp. They know how important it was for them, and they want that for their own kids.
Fun. That’s a word Ms. Herrmann uses often. The programming she discusses is educational, the disabilities the participants are challenged by often are serious, and the problems and roadblocks their parents and caregivers encounter can be daunting. But that does not negate the truth that Yachad participants, like everyone else, have a right and a need to have fun.
“One of the reasons that our programs are so appealing to everyone is that they are fun,” she said. “You feel accepted, you feel that you belong to a group that likes you for who you are, and you want to come back week after week to create even more meaningful relationships.
“If they weren’t having fun, no one would come back.”
Most of New Jersey Yachad’s programs are in Bergen County, but it serves the whole state. There is a chapter in Middlesex County, which has events on Sundays, and the goal is to expand further.
Leslie Rosenberg lives in Edison, in Middlesex. Her son, Moshe, 22, has been involved with Yachad since he was 7 years old. She loves Edison — “we have been totally blessed in this neighborhood,” she said — but she drives Moshe to Teaneck every day for Yachad’s vocational program. (Before that, Moshe went to Bergen County every day for school; he was the Sinai Schools student whose smile beamed down from Holy Name Medical Center’s huge electronic billboards over Route 4 last year.)
“Yachad used to provide a respite for us,” she said. “I adore my son, but it’s very physical, hard work — you always had to know where he was, and be sure you put everything away or you’d wake up and dind a mess. But he’d go to a Shabbaton, and then we’d have some down time.”
It would also give her and her husband an opportu-nity to devote more attention to their three daughters, she added.
“But now Yachad has become a respite for Moshe from us,” she said. “I have seen big changes in him. It gives him more independence, and he loves it. It has been amazing.”
She is astonished by the care and love that comes from the staff. “I remember one advisor who would offer to stay with Moshe for the hour between the time that his school ended and the transportation came,” she said. “Rather than making me feel bad, because I had to ask someone, he would make me feel that I was doing him a favor to let him spend this time with Moshe. It was a blessing. He would thank me for letting him spend time with Moshe. It was wonderful. I hate having to ask anyone for help, and here was this person saying of course I would stay with him. That experience was incredible.
“There is always someone on staff or another person who can help talk you through a situation or give you advice or help or whatever you need. I didn’t call every week, or every month, but over 15 years plenty of things came up — emotional or financial or legal questions.”
Moshe’s now in the vocational program, where he works three days a week, and also goes to classes on practical life skills, including how to communicate, an area that is particularly important and benefits from continual reinforcement.
As part of the vocational program, Moshe is in a group that goes to Yeshiva Univer-sity every Thursday. “They learn with the guys there, YU college students, at the beis midrash. I think that’s his favorite part of the week. He loves it.” There’s a gym at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, where New Jersey Yachad is based; a trainer works with Yachad participants there.
And then there are the horses. “Every Wednesday they go to a place where they learn to groom horses,” Ms. Rosenberg said. It’s a very smart idea. The Yachad participants learn to read the horses’ body language. “It’s nonverbal communication,” she added; it’s a skill, a way of watching and paying attention, that could be transferred from animals to people. And, of course, it’s fun.
Laurie Minchenberg lives in Passaic. “My connection with Yachad started about ten years ago,” she said. “I started going to the Yachad mother’s support group, and then to the family Shabbaton, and now we go to the family retreat and my daughter goes to one of the Yachad summer programs. I feel very connected and very grateful, and I appreciate Yachad for everything it’s done.”
Ms. Minchenberg has four children with disabilities, a 17-year-old, a 15-year-old, and almost 12-year-old twins. Each of the children is different; each has not only different needs but also different personalities, interests, and talents. Each connects with Yachad differently.
“One of my daughters went to a Yachad program at Camp Kesher,” she said. “What I found really remarkable is that after she came home from camp, almost every Friday her camp counselor called to say hello, ask how she was doing, and how her week at school was.
“It makes my daughter feel good. What’s really beautiful to me is that the counselor really took an interest in her, and thinks about her. It means that she’s really on her mind.
“Chani has run some really good support groups,” Ms. Minchenberg added. “She has brought in excellent speakers on how important it is for mothers to take care of themselves. That has been really helpful.”
Ken Saibel is the associate director of Yachad’s national organization. He raves about Chani Herrmann. “Chani is really an incredible person,” he said. “Everything she does, she does with such warmth and feeling for our Yachad members and their families. That’s what drives her every single day, thinking about how best she can serve our members and their families and the community. It is done with such warmth and incredible care.
“She has grown tremendously over the four and a half years that I have worked with her, personally and professionally, in amazing ways, and she has expanded the program a great deal,” he continued.
He talked about the gala reception, a melava malka at a private home, that will be this year’s main fundraiser for New Jersey Yachad. Characteristically, it was Ms. Herrmann’s idea; the first one was held four years ago, and it has become New Jersey Yachad’s main fundraiser. As its programs become more ambitious, its need for funding has grown, and so have the fundraising events.
Uncharacteristically, Ms. Herrmann is allowing herself to be honored. “It was not easy to get her to agree,” Mr. Saibel said. “It took a lot of arm twisting. But she agreed to do it because she finally was convinced that it will benefit Yachad members and the whole community.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Chani is New Jersey Yachad,” he concluded.
“It’s been incredible for me to see the organization grow from the small operation it was to the enormous organization it has become,” Ms. Herrmann said. Of course, the New Jersey group has had help. “We work very closely with the national offices, and with the New York department, to ensure that we have as many programs as possible, and the best services available,” she said.
She thinks back over the personal benefits she’s gained from Yachad. It’s all about relationships. One Shabbat afternoon last fall, she and one of her daughters walked over to a friend’s house for an oneg. “And from across the room, I see Chayim from my Queens Yachad chapter.
“I hadn’t seen him for years, but he came running across the room. ‘Chani Schwartz!’ he said — and you know that if someone calls you by your maiden name you go way back — and his smile was so huge and I think that mine probably was even bigger. And immediately we picked up where we had left off.
“There was such a bond! From every Shabbaton, there are those bonds.”
Ms. Herrmann’s husband, Daniel, is a school psychologist at the Hillel Academy in Deal. The Herrmanns have four children — Atara, 14, Gabriella, 12, Dovid, 11, and Yaakov, 7. “I hope that my children get a lot out of the programs they go to, and I hope that they take the message of Yachad with them,” Ms. Herrmann said. “I always say ‘Include people. Be nice.’ That’s really what we want for our kids. We want them to be included, and we want them to include others.
“It’s no different for people with special needs,” Ms. Herrmann said “Everyone wants to be included.”
A Fresh New Face at Yachad
This past month, Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, has hired many new talented staff members. For the NY area, Yachad would like to formally introduce Rabbi Ahron Rosenthal as the new Director of New York. Rabbi Ahron Rosenthal brings a wealth of experience in both formal and informal education, previously serving as an administrator at Yeshiva Har Torah in Queens for the past nine years and has been actively involved with the disabilities community promoting inclusion through his involvement with Camp Kaylie as the head counselor, spending his summers there since its inception six years ago. He stated about his joining Yachad, “I am so excited to be a part of Yachad, a truly vital and innovative organization, and look forward to contributing to its continued growth and success in all areas.”Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, International Director of Yachad, shares his excitement that “Rabbi Rosenthal will make many positive contributions to New York and New Jersey programming, services and beyond.” As the Jewish community expands exponentially, Yachad looks to increase its programming and initiatives to meet the needs of those growing and emerging communities. Yachad is an agency of the OU and continues to be an innovator in the field of inclusion with their many programs and services benefiting the disabilities community. If you are interested in getting more involved in Yachad’s lay leadership, or bringing to your community Shabbatons, programs or vocational services, please contact Rabbi Rosenthal at Rosenthala@ou.org.
This article was written by JLNJ Staff.
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Jews With Special Needs Prepare for a Rite of Passage
Jordan Levy, 24, helped make sandwiches last month while preparing for his bar mitzvah along with other students in Hauppauge, N.Y. Drumming helped him memorize lines of the Torah, he said. Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — The students and tutors gathered around the table ready for the task at hand: 40 cheese and 40 bologna sandwiches, the meat and cheese separated to follow kosher rules.
The lesson, late last month, was on acts of loving kindness, or gemilut hasadim in Hebrew. Donating sandwiches to a local soup kitchen is a way to demonstrate kindness, a tutor, Lisa Mintz, told the young adults who were there as part of their preparation to become bar or bat mitzvah.
In Conservative Judaism, a boy becomes a bar mitzvah at 13 and a girl a bat mitzvah at 12. But for four people with special needs in a residential program called Giant Step, here in this Long Island suburb, the rite of passage that includes reciting Hebrew and learning Jewish traditions did not seem possible when they were teenagers.
Now in their 20s and 30s, the four young adults, who all have cognitive disabilities, will become b’nai mitzvah — the plural term — on Saturday. Dr. Mark Sandberg, a psychologist at Giant Step who is also on the board at Dix Hills Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, proposed the belated b’nai mitzvah after hearing the residents’ sadness at missing a ritual they saw their cousins, brothers and sisters go through.
“This bar mitzvah in my head kind of got to me,” said Jordan Levy, 24, one of the four students. “And it actually made me become a better person.”
In Mr. Levy’s first lesson with Ms. Mintz, he learned about charity. He made a tzedakah box, a can decorated with colored paper to collect spare change.
The first time he filled the can, he donated the money to a foundation for pancreatic cancer. His father, Joel Levy, died from the disease in 2010.
“He was like my best friend and my soul mate,” he said. “We did everything together. We spoke about Diet Coke. He gave me strength.”
His father wore a suit and a tie to work every day, Mr. Levy remembered, and for the b’nai mitzvah he will wear his father’s wedding tie.
Jokes abounded as the group worked. “It’s a good thing I ate lunch,” David Finkelstein, the director and founder of Giant Step, said. Mr. Finkelstein, who went by Mr. Levy’s apartment to help with the lesson, was immediately supportive when Dr. Sandberg proposed the b’nai mitzvah.
Unrolling the Torah at Dix Hills Jewish Center. Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times
“Dave,” the students admonished him, drawing out the syllable.
“You’re full of baloney,” another student, Jamie Metzger, 30, said, eliciting giggles. She donated money from her own tzedakah box to breast cancer research in honor of her aunt, a cancer survivor.
After they finished with the sandwiches, each student took turns chanting from the Torah. The clear voice of Ariel Goller, 27, quieted the room as she chanted in Hebrew.
Mr. Levy donned his skullcap to chant, but took it off to play the drums for the audience gathered in his living room.
Drumming to a beat has helped him to memorize the lines of the Torah he will be reading Saturday.
“You have to somehow get melodies in your head, to get it in your mind,” he said.
The team of tutors, two for each student, includes a doctor, a lawyer, a cookie baker and a pottery maker. One tutor teaches each student Hebrew, the other Jewish tradition. Each has found creative ways to help their students learn.
Dori Kirshner is the executive director of Matan, an organization that trains leaders in the Jewish community to expand education for Jews with special needs.
She said historically a bar or bat mitzvah was not an option for a person with a disability.
“Judaism takes scholarship and mastery of material and intellectual pursuit of knowledge very seriously,” Ms. Kirshner said. “What that meant was that people who learn differently or had different abilities were not necessarily included.”
Mr. Levy’s Hebrew teacher, Sharon Gabay, said the synagogue gave her a copy of the Torah reading in small print. But her student is legally blind in one eye and could not see the text.
“I had to print everything very, very large,” Ms. Gabay said. She taught word by word. “He gets distracted if there is too much.”
The week before their b’nai mitzvah, the four students joined their Giant Step peers for a dance class held at Dix Hills Jewish Center. The synagogue’s rabbi, Howard Buechler, high-fived the young adults as they flooded in.
Rabbi Buechler at Dix Hills Jewish Center. “Their bar and bat mitzvah is showing that God’s love and the portals of our synagogue and every synagogue are open to everyone,” he said. Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times
They danced to popular contemporary songs — “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” was a crowd-pleaser — before switching to traditional Jewish dances like the hora. The class was a chance to feel comfortable at the synagogue before the big day and share their Jewish culture with their friends, Dr. Sandberg said.
“We are all amazed at how it is transforming them,” Lori Levy, Mr. Levy’s mother, said. “We never dreamed they would ever be able to comprehend any of this. It just gave them an amazing sense of identity and accomplishment.”
Mr. Levy said he now considers, “What would God think?” before he makes a choice.
“When I was 13 I wanted to just have a party,” Mr. Levy said. “And that was it.”
Ben Kaplan, 24, studied topics like the Holocaust with his tutor. He had already learned about it in high school, but it was still awful to talk about, he said.
Becoming a bar mitzvah means to “become a man in Jewish culture and society and to take that next step,” Mr. Kaplan explained.
“It takes time to learn things,” he said of the preparation for his bar mitzvah. “You have to be patient. And have a high a tolerance and stuff like that. It’s hard.”
Karen Metzger, Ms. Metzger’s mother, said: “Honestly, we really didn’t think she was going to do it. When we first spoke to her about it she seemed reluctant. We weren’t sure if she would go through with it, but she absolutely loved it.”
Mastering English reading was not easy for her daughter to begin with, so reading transliterated Hebrew created more of a challenge.
Down the hallway from the dance floor, the tutors met to plan for the coming celebration. They coordinated who would recite which reading or blessing and how to mitigate nerves and fear. They relayed the progress of each student.
“Ariel knows her Hebrew,” her tutor said proudly.
The synagogue will be filled with nearly 200 people for the service.
“Their bar and bat mitzvah is showing that God’s love and the portals of our synagogue and every synagogue are open to everyone,” Rabbi Buechler said. “When the bar and bat mitzvah ends, their Jewish life is just beginning.”
This article was written by Megan Jula for The New York Times.
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