United Synagogue puts disabilities in the spotlight in a series of short films

Members of the United Synagogue with lived experience of a disability are being featured in a series of short videos in a bid to make their shuls more accessible.

To mark February’s Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month – an American initiative –  rabbis and lay-leaders are seen in conversation with members who have both visible and invisible disabilities, where they discuss both the positives and the challenges of going to synagogue.

Videos are being released weekly on social media and the Chief Rabbi is due to appear in one at the end of the month to highlight the importance of the issue.

Richard from Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, explains that while his six-year-old daughter, Mika, enjoys going to synagogue, particularly taking part in the children’s service, the only way he is able to get her into the building with her buggy is via the men’s section. “In the back of my mind, I worry about how long can that continue for? She’s getting older, and will there be a time that I have to withdraw her because she is the wrong gender to be in that section of the shul?”

He praised fellow parents at the children’s service, who encouraged their children to say “Shabbat Shalom” to Mika, and called on all rabbis to do the same. “Make a point of welcoming everyone who comes through your doors, just for a moment, by saying: ‘Shabbat Shalom’, ‘How has your week been?’ That acknowledgement that they’re there, a small bit of interest in their wellbeing, goes a long, long way.”

Rael from Alei Tzion Synagogue in Hendon, who was born deaf and has been wearing hearing aids since he was five, said that organisers needed to be aware of how to make events accessible to people with disabilities.

“When you advertise an event, some people ask obvious questions, like: ‘Are you vegetarian?’ [but] they never ask: ‘What disability do you have?’ I think communities should really start to think about that.”

He also suggested that before giving a sermon, rabbis handed out a synopsis to those who wanted one, “so people who can’t follow don’t go away feeling: What did I gain from this?’”

Natalie Shaw, the vice-chair Barnet Synagogue, who features in one of the videos, said: “There has been, historically, within the United Synagogue, a little bit of a stigma. We need to break that paradigm and just make everybody feel welcome.”

(l-r) Simon Berman, deputy chair Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue and Natalie Shaw, the vice-chair of Barnet Synagogue, chat to Rael, who is deaf, from Alei Tzion Synagogue in Hendon and Debbs, who has ME, from Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue about how synagogues can be made more accessible and welcoming places[Missing Credit]

She urged synagogue leaders to “think outside the box because we can’t obviously go against the laws of Halacha, but I think we need to be a bit more sensitive rather than putting a sticky plaster on something”.

Shaw cited Rabbi Michael Laitner, who led services at Barnet Synagogue during the High Holidays. “The wonderful thing that he said at each of the services, which really made a difference, was that there was no obligation for anybody to have to stand up for any of the prayers.”

Daniella Neifeld, community participation manager at the United Synagogue, who initiated the project said: “We want to foster open conversations in our communities between individuals with lived experience and community leaders. Some shuls already excel in this area, making simple and reasonable changes based on feedback, which have benefited not only those with disabilities but the entire community.”

Neifeld said that around 20 per cent of the population had a disability – visible or invisible – and that if someone felt they were not able to participate in Jewish communal life, this could prevent not only them from attending synagogue, but possibly their family too. “Small, positive changes…have a dramatic impact on the ability of people with disabilities to participate,” she said.

The videos come a year after the United Synagogue launched a drive to make its spaces more welcoming to people with disabilities. This was followed, in July, by the publication of an accessibility guidebook, which uses symbols to show which synagogues had facilities such as a Shabbat lift and wheelchair ramp.

You can watch the videos here and here