Best Practices
Below, you’ll find resources from some of our Reconstructionist communities, as well as guides and websites from the larger Jewish community, that can help you make decisions around all-ability inclusion and accessibility in your space.Â
Learn how other Reconstructionist communities guide their greeters towards greater inclusivity.
- Congregation Dorshei Tzedek’s Guidelines for High Holiday Greeters
- Welcoming each other at Kol Tzedek Synagogue
- Creating a Welcoming Community guide from Dorshei Derekh
- Kadima’s Evolving Derech Eretz – Ways of the Land/Community
Guides and Websites for Best Practices
Hineinu: An Inclusion Resource Guide for Congregations
Leaders of the Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform Movements brought their wisdom and resources together for disability inclusion in Hineinu: An Inclusion Resource Guide for Congregations. This thorough guide provides congregational leaders and educators with practicable inclusion tips for every facet of communal Jewish life, from building accessibility to b’nai mitzvah prep, from the sacred to the everyday. It also lists helpful resources for further learning.
RespectAbility’s Inclusive Congregations Guide
This helpful guide offers practical changes faith communities can make to be more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities. The Inclusive Congregations Guide was spearheaded by Shelly Christensen, the Senior Director of Faith Inclusion and Belonging at RespectAbility and the co-founder of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) in 2009.
Disabilities Inclusion Learning Center
The Union for Reform Judaism, in partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation, established the Disabilities Inclusion Learning Center. While the site is somewhat out of date, it aggregates a wealth of resources and recorded study sessions around the inclusion needs of people with disabilities in Jewish communities. Those seeking to learn about a specific facet of disability inclusion, such as mental health or needs around the High Holidays, may find this archive a good place to start.
