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When Jewish children reach the age of bar and bat mitzvah, we celebrate their emerging Jewish adulthood. Most children teach their Torah, participate in leading the liturgy and complete a mitzvah [...]

Disability is common; inclusion, less so. As Jews, we have an obligation to all of our people, regardless of ability. There has been increased attention to this issue in recent years, but there [...]

A woman sits on the couch in my office explaining why she doesn’t feel comfortable speaking in class. A man, suffering from past traumas, tries to understand why it is so hard to connect with his [...]

An old disability joke goes: A wheelchair user goes to buy stamps at the post office. She can’t get in because there’s no ramp. She calls to complain. The postmaster says, “That’s ridiculous. We [...]

During the month of February (Jewish Disability Awareness Month) Matan shares a weekly d’var torah linking inclusion to the upcoming Torah portion. We say often that JDAM may only be one month, [...]

Written by Dori Frumin Kirshner, Matan’s Executive Director Do you trust your GPS? Have you ever relied on its navigational advice only to find yourself nowhere near your intended destination? [...]

Recently I was brainstorming with some other people involved with improving accessibility in the Jewish community about the kinds of issues we should be focusing on during JDAM (Jewish Disability [...]

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, “Dyslexia is the name for specific learning disabilities in reading… Children and adults with dyslexia simply have a neurological [...]

The idea of having twins was something we often chided about. To say we were giddy and excited when we heard the news would be an enormous understatement. Once the magical feeling sank in, we [...]

Written by Meredith Polsky, Matan’s Director of Advocacy and Training Last month, Matan kicked off its Inaugural Matan Institute for Early Childhood Educators. There were several really [...]