LiNK: Inclusion and Belonging Are Our Daily Pursuit for a Flourishing Community

Inclusion and Belonging: Our Daily Pursuit for a Flourishing Community

BY JANET GUNNER

February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). Established in 2009 by the Jewish Special Education International Consortium, JDAIM’s mission is “to unite Jewish communities worldwide to raise awareness and champion the rights of all Jews to be included and to participate in all aspects of Jewish life like anyone else. JDAIM is a call to action to each one of us in accordance with our Jewish values, honoring the gifts and strengths that we each possess.”

My husband Glenn Pincus and I have been fortunate to raise our three now adult children in Jewish Buffalo where I can say first-hand that inclusion and belonging are not mere observances during a particular day or month, but rather a daily pursuit for many visionary and dedicated clergy,

Glenn Pincus, Daniel Pincus, Janet Gunner

professionals, lay leaders and volunteers in our community. Our 30-year-old son Daniel has intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder and a seizure disorder. Disability impacts all of us: according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 26% of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability. Glenn and I embrace JDAIM because it requires us individually and collectively to take stock. How are we doing? What have we accomplished so far? What are our evolving goals? What tweaks or changes in approach are necessary to achieve our current goals and move forward?

Let me shine a light on a few community accomplishments. I’m thankful for the opportunity I have had to be involved with Temple Beth Tzedek (TBT) Kesher Inclusion since its inception in 2000. One of Kesher’s guiding tenets is that every person is welcomed and encouraged to participate in every aspect of synagogue life. We have learned, however, there is also value in specially tailored programs where we engage with other community partners. By way of example, the Kesher Inclusion Outstretched Arm program, now in its 21st year, envisioned and led by Sharla Bleichfeld with Rabbi Adam Rosenbaum and Cantor Mark Spindler and amazing volunteers, was created to ensure that people of all abilities have meaningful ways to participate in our beloved Jewish traditions.

TBT’s Kesher Inclusion Lifelong Learning program, envisioned and led by Marian Lustig with extraordinary volunteer teachers and now in its sixth year, focuses on topics of Judaism that interest the students often in one-on-one learning. The program culminates each year in a community Havdalah celebration.

Buffalo Jewish Federation has b’tzelem elokim (“created with the spark of the divine”) as “a guiding value that underscores how everyone has something of value to contribute and everyone has the right to belong.” We greatly appreciate the Federation Women’s Jewish Group Home Miriam’s Well and Future Men’s Jewish Group Home programs envisioned and led by Mike Steklof, Miriam Abramovich, Robin Kurss, Rabbi Rosenbaum and Zach Steinberg. Our spirits soar with the monumental achievement of NYS’ recent approval of a culturally sensitive group home in the Amherst area (Men’s Jewish Group Home). Key to the state’s approval was the demonstrated commitment of Jewish Buffalo to an inclusive community providing the women and men with a powerful sense of belonging and Federation CEO Rob Goldberg’s championing of the Men’s Home. We are so grateful.

Finally, I’d like to suggest a few goals. First, an originator of JDAIM, Shelly Christensen, emphasized in her book From Longing to Belonging, that it is important to pursue both “Structural Inclusion” (removing barriers) and the “Spirit of Belonging.” Ms. Christensen writes, “Belonging is based on relationships within the community that encourage and empower people with disabilities and mental health conditions to participate like anyone else. Belonging occurs when community members build relationships with people with disabilities, listening to what is important to them, and how they want to be involved.” On Structural Inclusion, I encourage us all to emulate Federation’s proactive practice of asking each program registrant (with followup) whether any accommodations are needed to make the program experience meaningful. Second, inclusion and belonging will endure only if we all embrace the role. Rabbi Tarfon stated, “It is not your obligation to complete the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either.” (Ethics of the Fathers 2:16.)

As we begin a new calendar year, please join us with your vision, leadership, and support to help ensure an enduring inclusive flourishing community that values all people, making each person feel they belong. Please contact Janet Gunner (janet.gunner@gmail.com) or Mike Steklof, Senior Director of LiNK, (mike@buffalojewishfederation.org) for more information.

Janet Gunner is chair of Kesher Inclusion at Temple Beth Tzedek.