Intro to Disability & The Torah

Blessing for Studying Torah

ברוך אתה ה' א‑לוהינו מלך העולם לעסוק
בדברי תורה
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh haolam asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav ve’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
Blessed are you Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Their
commandments and commanded us to engage in words of Torah.

Defining Disability

... scholars emphasize that disability is produced through social processes: the tendency of observers to stare at and single out particular bodies that deviate from society’s expectations, architectural and design choices that privilege certain kinds of moving and being in the world, and conceptions of rationality and behavior that expect all people to fit within narrow expressions of cognition and emotion (Davis; Garland-Thomson, Staring). Disability studies has also politicized the idea of the ‘normal’ body, which exists only in relation to bodies marked as disabled. (Belser, Julia Watts. Judaism and Disability 98.)

-What is Julia Watts Belser saying in layperson's terms?

-How does Julia Watts Belser's conception of disability differ or agree from your own definition?

בראשית א׳:כ״ו-כ״ז

(כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכׇל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכׇל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃(כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃

Genesis 1:26-27

(26) And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.”(27) And God created humankind in the divine image,
creating it in the image of God—
(creating them male and female.)

בראשית א׳:ל״א

(לא) וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי׃ {פ}

Genesis 1:31

(31) And God saw all that had been made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

- How do you think Genesis 1:26-27 about B'tzelem Elohim (created in G-d's image) could positively impact the disability community?

-If "G-d saw all that had been made and found it very good," what implications might that have on the disability community?

שבועות לט. 78

... כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה

Shevuot 39a:22

All Israel is responsible for one another.

-If all of Israel is responsible for one another, what could that mean for those of Israel and the wider community who are disabled?

Disability as Liberation

I claim disability as a vibrant part of my own identity, as a meaningful way of naming and celebrating the intricate unfolding of my own skin and soul. A student once asked whether it was appropriate for someone with a disability to recite the blessing Asher Yatzar, the blessing that Jews recite to praise the One who creates the body with wisdom. My bones say yes. I bless God for crafting this holy house of skin and blood: these clear eyes and bony hips, this leg a bit shorter than the next, this hip unwilling to bear weight. When I walked as a child, my heel used to strike ground in its own distinctive rhythm. Though my walk was subject to scrutiny and no small disapproval, I remember listening to the off-beat of my quirky stride, loving the sound of my own step. (Belser, Julia Watts. God on Wheels: Disability and Jewish Feminist Theology.)