Ritual Resources
Here, you can find more inclusive prayers, rituals, and congregational resources to help uplift everyone in your services. You can also explore disability-informed reformulations of Jewish ritual that may change the way you think about justice, spirituality, and communal responsibility.
Ritualwell, an initiative of Reconstructing Judaism, is the most extensive online resource curating original Jewish rituals. Browse Ritualwell’s #disability tag to find beautiful prayers, ceremonies, and lesson plans by and for people with disabilities, such as this blessing over tzitzit and this berakhah for the autistic mind.
JBI helps individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled to access Jewish life, learning, and culture through braille, large print, and audio texts. JBI offers a vast circulating library, liturgical texts, periodicals, and cultural offerings, all free of charge to individuals who cannot read standard print. JBI also offers customized materials for individuals pursuing Jewish life and learning. Fulfilled by special request, these include accessible texts for religious or Hebrew studies, adult education courses, participation in holidays or cultural celebrations, b’nei mitzvahs, or any other facet of Jewish communal life. In addition to serving individuals directly, JBI works with synagogues, organizations, and groups to make their programming and their communities more accessible. If your organization is looking to create accessible versions of print materials, JBI can transcribe and produce them for a modest fee.
Holiday Resources
Ableism Al Chet
Ableism Al Chet, written by Rabbi Jess Belasco and the Jewish Covid Resilience Network, is a powerful contemporary confessional to include in your High Holiday services. We recommend this liturgy for communities that are in active, ongoing conversations about disability justice, COVID practices, and inclusion. A version addressing disabled people wronged by ableism and one written in the voices of disabled people addressing their communities are both available.
Reenvisioning Tashlich
In Reenvisioning Tashlich (With Some Help from the Temple), SVARA’s Rabbi Jess Belasco invites readers to view the High Holiday standard of teshuvah—repentance—less as self-remonstration than self-cleansing and restoration. Drawing on Sukkot’s ancient association with rain, they offer three compassionate meditations for tashlich that can nourish your soul.
