I was honored to present a webinar last week as part of the Shorashim Staff Series.  It was entitled, “Birthright Israel Trips and People with Disabilities:  How The Israel Multisensory Classroom Benefits Participants on Specialty and Neurotypical Trips” and is available for viewing on my website  https://howardblas.com/disabilities/israel-trips/. 

I have been privileged to lead many Shorashim Birthright Aspergers trips and Tikvah Ramah Birthright Israel trips.  I began my talk by sharing the fact that there are MANY specialized trips Birthright trips for young adults with intellectual, developmental, sensory and physical disabilities, as well as medical issues.  Many participants with disabilities are fully included on typical Birthright trips; others participate in the following specialized trips:

American Sign Language

Asperger’s Syndrome

Cognitive Disorders

Developmental Disabilities

Friendship Circle

Inflammatory Bowel Disorders

Yalla: Physical Medical Disabilities

Twelve Step Recovery

Yachad: National Jewish Council for Disabilities

The first accessibility trip took place in 2001.  To date, more than 2,000 participants have taken part in 75+ trips

I explained how specialized trips are structured, explored how Israel is the ultimate multisensory learning environment, and described what I think participants with disabilities “get” out of such trips—knowledge of and connection to Israel, the Jewish religion and to the Jewish People.  Perhaps most important—participants form friendships!

I was delighted when, a few days after my presentation, I received a copy of the report “Breaking Barriers: A Look at Birthright Israel Specialized Trips for Participants with Disabilities,” written by Fern Chertok, Rachel Minkin, and Daniel Olson.  I was one of the many participants, parents, staff members and tour leaders with whom the researchers spoke.

Chertok and Minkin also wrote an article in today’s ejwishphilanthropy, entitled, “For Young Adults with Disabilities the Loss of Specialized Birthright Trips is Particularly Poignant.”  While they are sad that participants with and without disabilities will miss some opportunities to travel to Israel during these Covid-19 times, they report on the importance of such specialized trips.

Some highlights:

“Our research team observed three specialized Birthright trips for young adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities and interviewed participants, their parents, and trip leaders. Almost universally, young adults on these specialized trips described their experiences in Israel as engaging, meaningful, and fun. Participants were excited to be in the Jewish state, to learn about its history, culture, and foods and to get to know Israeli peers. In this way, their experiences were very similar to those of their peers without disabilities. However, for young adults on specialized trips, participation in Birthright Israel had additional significance: a claim to their place in the normative “coming-of-age” experience for contemporary Jewish young adults, friendships with peers with whom they share the experience of being a person with disabilities, and new levels of independence.

Participants relayed how meaningful it was that they had a Birthright experience like their friends and family members without disabilities. They described their excitement at going on a camel or jeep ride, visiting Masada, and placing notes at the Kotel. Participants now had their own Birthright stories to share just like their peers without disabilities.

Historical sites were not, however, their most meaningful experiences. During an interview, one participant, when asked what she most looked forward to on her trip, initially stated riding a camel but quickly followed up with “to make friends.” Participants told us that, starting in their teen years, they had few or no opportunities in their home communities for social interaction with peers, especially with Jewish peers. They explained how important it was to them to have friends who understood and accepted them without having to explain their disability, and how much they appreciated experiencing Birthright with peers with similar disabilities. Participants and their parents often described the social contacts gained as one of the most important outcomes of their Birthright experience. One parent called it “the first miracle,” when he realized that his adult child, for the first time, had a circle of Jewish friends.

The concept of “dignity of risk,” describes the healthy development that is possible when persons with disabilities have opportunities to step out of their comfort zone. Participants on specialized trips described as life changing, the opportunity to try out new activities and manage challenges with the help of supportive trip staff on Birthright trips. Prior to Birthright, none of these young adults had traveled extensively without family. While in Israel, participants were responsible for daily routines of self-care, managing discomforts and stresses of travel, and decisions about what to eat and how to use their discretionary funds. Participants were well aware that they were reaching for and succeeding at new milestones of independence. As one participant exclaimed, “I went by myself halfway across the world.”

I have observed just how much participants with disabilities get out of their Birthright Israel experience.  As the researchers point out, many report that they have made friends for the first time.  The participants from my last two Shorashim Aspergers trips have recently had Zoom bus reunions; a 2^nd reunion is planned for each group this July.

My only “critique” of this trip is that we need to all do a better job getting the word out.  I know Birthright is working hard on this.   Let’s all shout it from the rooftops.  Tell friends, and neighbors and anyone with a Birthright-aged child that there IS an Israel trip for them!

My favorite line in The Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias”—written  by Robert Hunter—says, “Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”  I thought of this lyric when I was recently introduced by a trusted colleague to Hans Hanson, a college advisor with a unique approach.    

The plan was to get to know Hans professionally.  No doubt he is impressive for his college guidance, his workshops and his books (he is the author of two books- “Dissecting the Big Business of College: 10 Strategies for Saving College Costs” and “The Inside Secrets to Playing College Sports: What Every Mom & Dad Must Know.”).  But before we talked shop, I commented on the rock poster behind him, visible from my computer during our Zoom meeting.   Within seconds, I learned that Hans is a musician.  He JUST learned to play the bass!

Hans recounts the story. 

-I was sitting in the dentist chair having my teeth cleaned. The dental hygienist asked me if there's anything I've missed doing in my life that I would have liked to do.

-I said- Well, when I come back in my next life, I'm coming back as a bass guitarist!

-She paused and said- Hmmm, Hans, you might not want to wait until then!

-And that hit me…I bought my first bass within one month and did my first show within a year!!!

Yes, I learned all bout Hans’ impressive professional work.  But, given how much we music fans are missing music and searching for a good music story, I interviewed Hans about…music!

Did you take lessons? 

Yes, I began lessons on September 1 at the Fairfield School of Rock.

How did you find bandmates? 

The school paired me up with other adults in the school. I just happened to be the rogue-rookie, ha! Live performance is the ultimate goal of someone enrolling in the school. My challenge was they did that after just 6 weeks of lessons. I wasn't ready, but I worked hard to get ready over the following weeks.

You said you are playing The Band?  (the famous “band” featuring Rick Danko  on bass guitar,  Garth Hudson  on keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel on  keyboards, drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson on guitar and Levon Helm on drums, mandolin, guitar)

This is the music we're tasked with playing by the school. I had a few other choices but this was my preferred band to learn. This is my favorite song of our playlist- You don't know the shape I'm in.

What are some other favorites? 

Our first show featured Eric Clapton during the 1970's. I loved playing- Lay Down Sally, Wonderful Tonight, After Midnight, Cocaine, Let it Grow… I also love Fleetwood Mac. The bass lines in some of their songs are just great…so I'm learning a few of theirs- Rhiannon, The Chain. I love The Animals- We Gotta Get Out of This Place, for the bass line!  I seem gravitated to “Americana” music defined as contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues.

Anything else on your list of things to try before “the next life?” 

I'm devoted to helping to make college affordable and accessible to mainstream America; I'm devoted to protecting and preserving our wildlife with intention to expand upon my fishing (catch and release only!).

I think it is an inspiring story.

Thanks, I like you, believe that we need to live and not hide, to continue challenging ourselves, to test our abilities, to expand upon our intelligence, to contribute to society, and to share our spirit in spite of the present hardships.

At the end of our interview, Hanson confided in me that the rock poster which caught my eye, was actually NOT a bass player—it was a painting of a golfer.  I guess I should get my eyes checked. 

We should all take a page out of Hanson’s play book and challenge ourselves to think about what WE want to start doing, regardless of our age or stage of life.  Thanks Hans for helping me to better understand Robert Hunter’s lyric.  Sometimes, we do get shown the light—and get new insights– in the strangest of places!

I am not sure what is more remarkable—that Dr. Ruth Westheimer still has the passion and energy to be a non-stop, vocal supporter of Israel, or that a 92-year-old knows how to use Zoom so effectively to communicate her important messages.

Dr. Ruth, the world-famous sex therapist, Kindertransport survivor, and former IDF sniper, joined a webinar last Thursday, part of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces’ (FIDF) Engage web series. She spoke movingly about growing up in Frankfort, Germany as an only child to Orthodox parents (“wonderful childhood, very good school”).  She reports that, in 1938, “The Nazis came to the apartment, picked up my father.  My grandmother who lived with us took money from the seam of her skirt, gave the Nazi money, and said ‘take good care of my son.’  Dr. Ruth recalls that they put him in a truck.  On the way, he turned around, mustered a smile and waved.  “That’s the last I saw of my father HOWEVER, because of that, my life was saved. He went to a labor camp and sent a message that I had to go to Switzerland…by the Kindertransport.” 

I was privileged to hear Dr. Ruth speak about her Kindertransport experience in 2009 at Yale University’s Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life, at the opening of “Orphans of the Holocaust,” and the opening event of the Yom Hashoah-Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration.  At the time, Westheimer was co-teaching a course on “The Family and the Jewish Tradition” at Yale with the university’s (then) Jewish chaplain, Rabbi James Ponet.  I was able to briefly interview the amazing Dr. Ruth at the end of her talk and write about it for the Jewish Ledger. 

Dr. Ruth addressed many of her comments to young Israeli soldiers who might be listening.  “For the IDF, what is important for all these young people to know, is that England took in 10,000. If I had been in Holland Belgium or France, I wouldn’t be alive.”  She spoke of a longitudinal study she conducted of the children who were in the orphanage with her.  “They all made it. None committed suicide or became clinically depressed BECAUSE the early years of their lives were in an intact family with parents and grandparents and that helped them to survive.  We have to teach children that anything you do, is going to bear fruits.”  She immediately shifted to speak about her own grandchildren “I have four—mine are the best!  My grandson gave $1000 today to the FIDF in my honor!”

Much of the webinar focused on Dr. Ruth’s love and support of Israel and her service in the Haganah, the precursor to the IDF.  “From age 10 in Switzerland, I was an ardent Zionist.  I have been saying since then that Jews need a country of their own. If there was a State (then), things would have been different.  There was no place for someone like me to go.”  Dr. Ruth playfully attributes her going to Israel to the handsome shlichim (emissaries) sent to teach the orphan children about Palestine.   “I decided I needed to go, to build a country.  I never thought I wouldn’t live there my whole life there…”

During her service in the Haganah, the main paramilitary organization of the Jewish population in Mandatory Palestine prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, Dr. Ruth was an expert sniper and grenade thrower.  She served from 1945-1948, reports that she “never killed anyone,” and reported that on her 20th birthday in 1948, her legs were severely injured due to a bombing.  She went back in to a building to get a reading book and was injured—the two women next to her were killed.

Dr. Ruth’s love and support of Israel were inspiring.  But she is perhaps best known for her long-running program years ago “Sexually Speaking.”  Just as she has transitioned to Zoom, she has adapted to Twitter; she has over 98,000 followers on Twitter @AskDrRuth. 

Dr. Ruth connected her love for Israel and her professional work when she playfully remarked, “Anybody who serves in the IDF, I can promise them, once they are finished, they will have good sex for the rest of their life.”    Dr. Ruth turned 92 this June.  We need her positivity, sense of humor, and love for Israel ad meah v’esrim—until at LEAST 120!

It had all of the elements of a perfect Celebrate Israel Parade including happy children singing Hebrew songs and waving Israeli flags, politicians saying wonderful things about Israel, celebrities performing, and great visuals.  It was a well-coordinated, perfectly choreographed parade on a sunny Sunday in June.  And it was a great way to share good feelings about Israel.  There was only one problem—very few people knew about it.

The 2020 Virtual Celebrate Israel Parade took place in New York City at 1 pm on June 21^st and was an action packed one hour celebration, with accompanying hashtags:  #CelebrateIsrael #TodahFrontlineHeroes #TogetherAtHome.

The theme of the parade, quite appropriately, was “Todah,” which, as most of us, including 3 time New York Mets and Yankees All Star outfielder Curtis Granderson knows, means “thank you.”  He was one of many New York athletes, musicians and politicians to pay tribute to Israel, and to thank all frontline workers—paramedics, restaurant, workers, car drivers, sanitation workers, deliver and grocery workers, etc. Granderson joked that he was going to try a little Hebrew and said, “Todah.” 

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York reported in a press release that they were going to postpone the parade, originally set for June 7, “in recognition of the protests occurring across the country and in memoriam of George Floyd and the many other victims of racism and hate in America” and that a Zoom gathering would “provide an opportunity for Jews and non-Jews alike to hear messages from prominent Black community leaders in New York.”

I vaguely remember seeing an email about the event, but I do not recall seeing or hearing the usual hype and excitement for the Celebrate Israel Parade.  Too bad.  When I got around to watching it on YouTube on Monday, it was AMAZING—though it only had 979 views.

Israel’s President Rivlin talks about “celebrating friendship and solidarity between Israel and New York,” there are moving renditions of Hatikvah and the Star Spangled Banner, and Governor Cuomo spoke about Israel as “Our great partner and friend with an unbreakable bond”

There was great entertainment by the Ramaz Chamber Choir (singing Shira Chadasha), David Broza (singing Yihiyeh Tov), and Soul Farm, Moshav Band, and Neshama Carlebach.

Well known athletes who “stopped by” included Pete Alonso, New York Mets First Baseman and 2019 All Star.  He praised front line workers in the US and Israel and joked, “If you are not a Mets fans, switch over!”  TIki Barber, the 3-time Pro Bowler New York Giants spoke of going to Israel twice–once as the guest of Shimon Peres and once to run the Jerusalem Marathon. He noted that he was her “to celebrate the courage and selflessness of frontline workers in the US, Israel and across the country.”  Omri Casspi the former NBA player and current Maccabi Tel Aviv player, stopped by as well.

Other politicians and dignitaries on hand included New York Mayor De Blasio, Israel’s Consul General Hon. Dani Dayan, and Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN.  And it wouldn’t be a parade without Dr. Ruth stopping by!