- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Cleveland kidnappings: We must be our brother’s keeper
The exterior of the house where three women who had disappeared as teenagers approximately ten years ago were found alive on May 7 in Cleveland, Ohio. Photo by Pugliano/Getty Images
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and you said, “Oh my God.” Most of the hummus recipes…
Palestinians mark Nakba with West Bank protests
Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, which they call the “catastrophe,” with marches and protests.
- HOLLYWOOD
The Office’s best Jewish moment
Funny music, sad life
On an otherwise unremarkable day in 1938, a chubby but charming student at John Burroughs Junior High in Los Angeles “cracked the code of his comic gift and discovered his…
Filmmakers reveal magician’s secretive world
A British journalist recalls how she once sat down at a cafe with the legendary magician, author, historian, actor and, perhaps, the greatest sleight-of-hand artist on the planet in the documentary…
- LIFE & CULTURE
7 Rules for Perfect Hummus
When was the last time you opened a tub of hummus and swooned? When was the last time a restaurant put a plate of hummus in front of you, and…
Survivor: Irene Rosenberg
“Mommy, I’ll be right back.” Irene Rosenberg — then Irene Grunfeld — said as she was leaving the apartment of her cousin Mancy Weiss, where she and her mother were…
The Divine Wedding and Kiss - Parashat Naso
“O for your kiss! For your love / More enticing than wine, / For your scent and sweet name – For all this they love you. Take me away to…
- BLOGS
What would my Israeli grandmother think?
When I hear about the latest events in Israel – the air strikes on weapons facilities in Syria, the flare-ups over women donning prayer shawls at the Western Wall –…
A hot topic, a great panel, and chance to learn and discuss—immigration at issue
It's a critical time for immigration reform in this country. Washington is getting set to make major changes, the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1980's under President…
State 194: A Documentary About Palestine
Opening this weekend at Laemmle’s Music Hall 3 is a very hot-button new documentary called State 194, which follows the recent history of Palestine. Many will approach this film with…
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Ten Lessons from Special Needs Motherhood
Study: Jewish summer camps increasingly attune to special needs kids
A study released by the Foundation for Jewish Camp showed overnight camps are growing increasingly aware of the needs of children with disabilities.
Advancing Special Needs Programs: Start Where the Funder Is At
Leveling the Playing Field
Stealing From Special Needs Children and the Taxpayer: Can It Get Any Lower?
Losing an autism diagnosis?
When Ethan Gorin was a toddler, he threw terrible tantrums, spun around in circles and repeatedly opened and shut drawers while counting. He didn’t respond when others called his name, and he was incapable of playing quietly by himself.
The Plague of Exclusion
Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
Inclusion: Awarding Success and Documenting the Fight
Purim for all—Special Needs Events this Weekend
Disability Rights Are Civil Rights
Connie and Harvey Lapin: Two-person army for their son
Just try asking Connie and Harvey Lapin to recap 44 years as parent activists in the world of autism. In hyperactive tag-team, the couple bursts forth with stories and ideas, only to interrupt themselves and one another with still more anecdotes, ideas and accomplishments.
8 tips for an accessible Chanukah
Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, a Boston-based agency for Jewish special education, is offering eight suggestions from experts for a Chanukah celebration that is child friendly and fully accessible for children with special learning needs:
Letters to the Editor: Gaza war, “Lincoln” and Special Needs
When David Suissa wonders “If Hamas had the ability to murder thousands of Jews, wouldn’t they?” he is letting stereotypes get in the way of helpful analysis (“Pogroms Interrupted,” Nov. 23). He is also, in effect, arguing that Hamas is not an organization with which peace and order can be reached.
A focus on special needs
Eliza Wilson’s holy moment in Israel didn’t come at the Western Wall. Sure, the 21-year-old with autism was honored and moved to place a note in the Wall on behalf of the 40 people traveling with her on a mission to learn about Israel’s programs for adults with special needs.
Foundation for Jewish Camp announces four new specialty camps
The Foundation for Jewish Camp announced four new camps to be included in its specialty camp incubator designed to engage Jewish campers.
Why Charity Isn’t Enough
Navigating the process of conservatorship
For a parent who has been caring for a child with special needs, it can be jarring to realize that at age 18, the child is considered a legal adult, whether or not he can sign his own name or understand the value of a dollar.
Pool trusts ensure care of adults with special needs
“Keys! Keys!” David Weisbord says as he tugs at his father’s hand, pulling him toward the door.
Why We Don’t Use the Word “Retarded” and Why You Shouldn’t Either
Lessons from Israel’s programs for the disabled
In a crowded living room in the dilapidated suburbs of Jaffa, the delegates from the Special Needs Study Mission from Los Angeles gathered closer to hear the testimony of an Israeli woman with severe disabilities tell the story of how proper intervention changed her life in countless ways. The program, which is subsidized by the State of Israel, provides Etty S. with home visits from a social worker, an emergency button to contact round-the-clock medical help, and perhaps most importantly, organized excursions with other disabled people in the vicinity.
Mars and Special Needs
From unplanned journey to special-needs mission to Israel
Raising a child with developmental disabilities has often been compared to an “unplanned journey,” taking you to places you never imagined you would go. After our son, Danny, was diagnosed with global developmental delays at the age of 13 months, I found myself learning a whole new vocabulary, meeting with many medical professionals and special-education teachers and aides.
Conversations From Twitter – Part 7
Conversations From Twitter – Part 6
Conversations From Twitter – Part 4
Independence for teens with special needs
Most freshmen feel overwhelmed during their first year at college. But for Sarah Selinger, a 19-year-old woman from West Los Angeles, her first semester at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), was almost unbearable.
Online program aids learning for Jewish special-needs kids
Daniel Ozer-Ross studies hard. He does his homework. And it’s not enough.
Letters to the Editor: Adults with special needs, Dennis Prager and JCC
Regarding Julie Gruenbaum Fax’s article “Finding Their Place” (Feb. 24), about 20-somethings with special needs, I want to express my profound disappointment regarding the fact that, once again, there was no mention about the supports and services provided by the Regional Center system.
Disabled adults find second family in group home
Tamir Appel scampers to his room to pull out a photo album of his latest trip to visit family in Israel. He sets it on the dining room table, where some of his housemates are gathered to talk about their daily life at the Ryzman Family Group Home for Men in Valley Village, one of three run by the Etta Israel Center, the only Jewish group homes on the West Coast.
Whose reality is real?
A little while ago, Hendel Schwartz got a call from a city bus driver. “Your son walks with God,” the driver told her.
Finding their place [VIDEO]
Lauren Levine is settling in with a group of friends apartment to watch “American Idol,” when a look of panic comes over her face. She rummages around, finds her keys and darts out.“I left the hair thing on,” she says when she returns, breathless, from her own apartment downstairs. “I was straightening Jasmine’s hair before we came up here, and I forgot to turn it off. Wow. That was close.” Levine has wide blue eyes accentuated with sparkly eye shadow, and her voice is spiced with a sense of interested wonder.
Dream big, y’all
In synagogue last Friday night, just after her sermon, the rabbi announced she had invited a special guest in honor of Jewish Disabilities Month. The woman next to me leaned over and whispered. “What’s Jewish Disabilities Month?” “That’s for Jews who get B’s in school,” I said.
Romance and Disabilities
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Parenting a Child with Special Needs
Judaism Through Arts for Adults With Special Needs
As her daughter Amy was nearing graduation two years ago, Pattie Earlix was crushed by the thought that her religious education was ending.
Autism groups focus on needs of grandparents
" . . . As grandparents, we go through a range of feelings. Some of these are triggered by the child's behavior and how the parents react to it. Grandparents are frightened and upset that their grandchild is experiencing these problems . . . "
Jewish Community Foundation announces $1.6 million in grants to ‘Cutting Edge’ orgs
The largest recipients of the Jewish Community Foundation's (JCF) Cutting Edge Grants, announced this week and totaling $1.6 million, were three programs promoting Jewish identity and connection with Israel through art, music and community leadership
Our family’s journey to make sure our special son was included
As soon as they put him on my belly, I knew. I looked at his eyes, and they were a bit puffy, as is normal after a regular delivery, but I knew.
My husband, Mark, said he looked perfect, with all fingers and toes accounted for. I kept asking if he was all right; he was our second child, after all, and I knew he wasn't, because a mother knows.
Mark kept believing everything was OK until he followed the nurses down to the nursery, and they asked for pediatricians to come in. Nurses attended to our first born, Jason -- not doctors.
Film shows Down syndrome no obstacle to prayer
Lior Liebling davens everywhere: in the backyard, in school and on the swing set. Some congregants at his synagogue, Mishkan Shalom of Mount Arie, Pa., call him the "little rebbe."
"The Zohar tells stories of miracle children who were spiritual geniuses," one synagogue member said. "Well, that's what Lior is."
Lior is the 13-year-old featured in the new documentary, "Praying With Lior," which highlights the bar mitzvah of a Jewish child living with Down syndrome. The character study of this boy tells of how Lior's community successfully integrates him into communal life -- a challenge many Jewish communities face with mentally and physically disabled members.
Club Kung Fu teaches special kids lots more than skill
Club Kung Fu is a martial arts program for Jewish special-needs children ages 9-15 that is designed to improve self-discipline, self-esteem and physical fitness. Right now, about eight boys meet weekly, but the program is expanding, thanks to a Cutting Edge grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
The Miracle of Brandon
The anticipation surrounding Brandon Kaplan's bar mitzvah had been growing for months. I was excited when my invitation for the May 26 celebration arrived; it was an honor to be included among those who would witness Brandon becoming a bar mitzvah.
Nes Gadol calls its first autistic students to the Torah
It's a typical Wednesday afternoon on the bimah at West Los Angeles' Vista Del Mar, a onetime Jewish orphanage that evolved into one of the nation's largest, most comprehensive child services centers. Cantor Steve Puzarne and Neal Katz are in the campus' aging sanctuary as part of Nes Gadol, an effort launched by Vista Del Mar last February in conjunction with The Miracle Project to help children with varying degrees of learning challenges become sons and daughters of the commandment.
Opening special-needs school would be a mitzvah
With the piecemeal services still failing so many children, it is time for our leaders and our community to take responsibility. The Jewish community of Los Angeles needs a Jewish special education school.
Dinner of Champions; Really N-Ice Camp
Calabasas evens playing field for special-needs kids
The city of Calabasas is preparing a play area where the thousands of special-needs children living in the Conejo and West San Fernando valleys can play alongside all children their age. Brandon's Village, the area's first universally accessible handicapped playground, is scheduled to open on Oct. 28 at Gates Canyon Park on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, just east of Las Virgenes Road.
A Circle of Friends
For several weeks, I had been visiting Nathan, a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. We had been brought together through the Conejo Valley Friendship Circle, an organization that extends warmth to families in the community that have children with special needs.
Special Needs Group Fills Special Niche
When parents gather for monthly meetings of Ozreinu, a spiritual support group for families with special-needs children, the first thing they do is check in.
Etta Israel Campers Learn Skills for Life
Mark Worland -- six-foot-something, dressed in tight black and skinhead bald -- grabs Navid by the arm.
"Come with me!" he barks.
"No!" screams Navid, barely 5-feet tall.
Navid throws himself on his back, locks the bottom of his feet to Worland's knees, and shields his face and head from Worland's flailing fists.
"Great job," says Worland, a self-defense specialist, shaking Navid's hand and helping him up, as Navid's friends applaud.
This self-defense class is part of a repertoire of life skills that Navid and his peers are learning at Independent Living Skills, a summer program for developmentally disabled adults run by Etta Israel Center, a mid-Wilshire nonprofit for people with special needs.
Support Opens Way for Special Needs
For most parents, preparing a child for a bar or bat mitzvah is just another of many coming-of-age stresses. But for parents whose children have special needs, the stress can be almost unbearable. Yet arranging b'nai mitzvah ceremonies for such children are not impossible, with a little love and support.
Margie Kommer, whose son, Max, was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), understands the loss of face some parents feel.
"It's very hard to go to a bar or bat mitzvah and see these shining stars, and see your own children struggling," she said.
And, naturally, children compare themselves to their peers. They can become so disheartened that they give up.
Orthodox Parents Create Special-Needs Camp
When the Los Angeles Unified School District broke for the recent winter vacation, a group of nine 10-year-old boys gathered in the Jewish Educational Movement in Beverly Hills for a mid-winter camp called, Kol Hanearim ("all the children"). The public school students were primarily from observant homes, and all have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).
Schwarzenegger’s Kindest Un-Cut
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't know it, but his recent gesture to reverse planned cuts for the disabled was the greatest memorial tribute to my brother, Danny. This week, we observed Danny's shloshim, the traditional 30 days after the death of a loved one.
Education Briefs
Inclusion’s Importance
When Georgia Freedman-Harvey's son was born with a rare genetic disorder, she and her husband discovered "the invisibility factor" for Jewish children with special needs.
Drastic Rule Change
This change has been devastating for the families of Jewish children with special needs.
Sound Advice
Two recent conferences held in the Jewish community -- one on autism, the other on a wide scope of disabilities -- demonstrated the difficulties of reconciling research and reality when it comes to helping individuals with special needs.
Why is This Seder Different From All Other Seders?
Every seder presents its own challenges, whether it's in deciding which haggadah to use or how much wine to add to the haroset. But for families of people with special needs, the usual frenetic Passover planning can go into overdrive as they search for ways to make the seder meaningful for all their loved ones.
Address Special Needs
Letters to the Editor.
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