TIkvah Staff past and present from Ramah New England, Darom and Wisconsin joined New York area Tikvah parents last Saturday night at REELabilities, a unique abilities/disabilities film festival. The festival, which now takes place in several US cities, was started in 2007. The NY festival is the largest in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities.
For the staff members from the various Ramah special needs programs, this marks another wonderful opportunity to get together in the offseason, share ideas and discuss important issues. The Hebrew language film, MABUL (“flood” or “storm”).
featured an Israeli young man with autism who returns home on short notice from his “institution.” The film shows the painful struggles of the family and community. We are most appreciative to Rabbi Mitch Cohen and the National Ramah Commission (and to our various funders) for making it possible for Tikvah staff and families to view the film free of charge. We enjoyed seeing a number of friends of Tikvah at the event, and we loved the 16 Handles ice cream we shared during our post film discussion!