{"id":45710,"date":"2018-12-15T19:28:34","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T17:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45710"},"modified":"2022-07-08T16:46:16","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:46:16","slug":"ability-and-disability-in-the-presence-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ability-and-disability-in-the-presence-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Ability And Disability In The Presence Of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[769,370,480],"acf":{"old_id":"45710","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38047,"related_cahpter":"111","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Inclusion has both contemporary relevance and Talmudic precedence","content":"

Leviticus 21:17\u200e\u200f is disturbing: \u201cSpeak to Aaron and say: No man of your \u200eoffspring \u200ethrough the ages who has a defect shall \u200ebe \u200equalified to offer the food of his \u200eGod.\u201d \u200eThis introduction is followed by several verses listing many specific disabilities. \u00a0\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

If all people are created in God\u2019s image, how could serving God be contingent on \u200ean individual\u2019s physical condition?\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, the question is not new. In the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 24b), Rav \u200eHuna taught: \u201cA man whose eyes run should not lift up his hands [to give the priestly \u200eblessing].\u201d \u200eDespite this, actual practice in Rav Huna\u2019s own neighborhood did allow \u200esuch a person to bless the people. Similarly, \u201cRabbi Yo\u1e25anan said: A man blind in one \u200eeye should \u200enot lift up his hands,\u201d but allowed more lenient practice where he lived. \u200eThe Talmud resolves these contradictions, \u201cThe townspeople were accustomed to \u200ethem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That helps but only a little. The rabbis were willing to soften the rule, but only for \u200e\u200e\u201cinsiders.\u201d In a world that strives for broad accessibility, the Torah and the Talmud \u200eseem to fall short of both ethical behavior and common decency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Temple was standing holiness was concentrated in one place.\u00a0<\/span>There was more centralization, \u200eseverity \u200eand emphasis on externals (not to mention the actual physical work that the \u200epriests needed to do). The \u200everse from Leviticus made a certain amount of sense in its \u200etime and place.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

In a world without a Temple, holiness is more diffuse, but also became more \u200econcealed. Rabbis took over \u200ethe mantle of leadership, and endeavored to help the \u200epeople maintain a connection to the Holy. To this end they needed to bridge the gap between \u200etheir commitment to the text and real people\u2019s lives. In the process, they permitted the \u200einclusion of people with disabilities who were otherwise part of the community.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

The modern world is more open to a fuller range of human experience, and our \u200ecommunity is larger. As people with wider variety of physical abilities and challenges \u200eare visible and \u200epresent in the public sphere, people everywhere are \u200eaccustomed (or \u200e becoming accustomed) \u200eto their presence. Therefore, the \u200eprecedents set by Rav Huna \u200eand Rabbi Yo\u1e25anan pave the way to allow all adults a place to participate in \u200ecommunal, religious \u200elife.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\n

illustration: 3Daliashutterstock.com<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":45754,"id":45754,"title":"wheelchair","filename":"wheelchair.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ability-and-disability-in-the-presence-of-god\/wheelchair\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"wheelchair","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45710,"date":"2018-12-15 22:27:40","modified":"2018-12-15 22:27:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":354,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","medium_large-width":354,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","large-width":354,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","1536x1536-width":354,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","2048x2048-width":354,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","post_full_size-width":354,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","home_baner-width":354,"home_baner-height":351}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Ability And Disability In The Presence Of God","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Inclusion has both contemporary relevance and Talmudic precedence","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":45754,"id":45754,"title":"wheelchair","filename":"wheelchair.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ability-and-disability-in-the-presence-of-god\/wheelchair\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"wheelchair","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45710,"date":"2018-12-15 22:27:40","modified":"2018-12-15 22:27:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":354,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","medium_large-width":354,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","large-width":354,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","1536x1536-width":354,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","2048x2048-width":354,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","post_full_size-width":354,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","home_baner-width":354,"home_baner-height":351}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45710"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106266,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45710\/revisions\/106266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}