Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Shabbat Weekend

    Agudas Achim will join together with other Jewish organizations and communities to raise awareness and champion the rights of people with disabilities. Please join us for the following events.

Kaballat Shabbat - Friday, February 9
    Chaya Silver, Agudas Achim’s Youth and Religious School Director, will speak during Kabbalat Shabbat Services about our ongoing efforts to ensure inclusion in the AAC Religious School, as well as various inclusion models for Jewish learning.  

Shabbat Services Speaker - Saturday, February 10  
    During Shabbat Services, Judith Heumann, internationally recognized advocate and expert on disability rights will address the Congregation on Disability Inclusion in Jewish Life. Judy has been a member of Adas Israel since 1993, serving two terms on the Board of Directors, and as the co-chair of the Adas Israel Inclusion Taskforce.

    Judy’s career has included working with non-profit disabled people's organizations in the United States and around the world, serving as an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education in the Clinton Administration, as the first Advisor on Disability and Development at the World Bank, and most recently as the first Special Advisor for International Disability Rights at the State Department working in the Obama administration. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation. Following Kiddush, please join Judy for an informal question and answer session.

Mini-Film Festival - Sunday, February 11 | 9:45 – 11:45  a.m. 
    Join us as for a mini-film festival about disabilities and inclusion in the Jewish Community and a post-screening discussion. We will view three short films including an Israeli film about a young man who is losing his hearing, and does not want to give up ice skating, a film about a young man on the Autism spectrum who used assistive communication devices to enable him to have a Bar Mitzvah, and a short video about the best buddies program at Camp Ramah.