The level of Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia in the Jewish community is high, and the people in these conditions need special attention to ensure they feel Torah-included. As a person with early-stage dementia I feel this, and also welcome that the Torah relates to this condition -- in each week's Parashah (Torah Portion) there is a reference to some aspect of dementia. Bringing out this dementia content of the Torah creates awareness in the community of this condition, and creates a connection between a person's life with dementia and the Torah, and in particular each week's Torah portion. This is far more important than the general community might understand, as a person with dementia (and I very much feel this) is looking for whatever Jewish guidance can be found for relating to this horrible condition. "Living" a particular aspect of the Torah portion provides a different and positive perspective for the person related to her or his condition.
The entry for each week's Torah portion is shown at the internet page deMENSCHia.com, which is part of the broader view of dementia shown at TheAlzheimersConversation.com. As an example of a week's entry, here is the entry for the portion Genesis-Bereshit:
The Serpent Named Dementia
The world was going along fine without the serpent that appears in Parashat Bereshit chapter 3, and in fact the Torah had spent the first two chapters of Bereshit describing what a paradise the world was before the serpent appeared. And now appears this most subtle and most insidious and most destructive of how life was before it arrived -- this same description applies to the serpent and to dementia. And the result is the same for both as summarized in the words of verse 18: thorns and thistles will grow in all aspects of your life. Adam and Eve didn't ask for the slithering snake to appear, it invaded their lives and made their lives terribly difficult, and once the decree was given there was no going back from it as described in verse 24. The serpent of dementia throws us out of the beauty of life and to a terrible place that we can't escape.
As shown in this example, this effort does not cover halachic or other formal aspects of Alzheimer's / dementia, but rather the human feelings and reality aspects connected to Torah and to Jewish life.
Comments and contributions to this effort are very welcome, as is any guidance that can be provided to the Alzheimer's / Dementia community including the people who perform the incredibly difficult function of Caregiver, for a Torah / Jewish perspective on living with this cursed condition.