Original Article Published on JewishPhilanthropy

In short

“In February, I led 23 participants with intellectual, developmental and sensory disabilities (blindness) on the Tikvah Ramah Birthright trip. Trip participants are affiliated with Tikvah programs at our Ramah camps in the U.S. and Canada where people with disabilities have been included in camp and vocational programs since 1970.”

The Jewish World recently wrapped up JDAIM, Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month, which has been marked each February since 2009 to raise awareness about the need for all Jews to be accepted and included in all aspects of Jewish communal life. Leading two Taglit Birthright Israel trips in two months has provided an interesting window in to just how far we have mostly come in the United States and in Israel in attitudes and policies towards people with disabilities.

First, it is important to note that Birthright has been including people with developmental, intellectual and sensory disabilities and such medical issues as inflammatory bowel disease for over a decade (see.) Our recent December Autism Spectrum Disorder trip (formerly known as the Birthright Asperger’s trip) even included two young Israeli men on the autism spectrum who are currently doing their National Service. Their participation helped fulfil the Birthright requirement of ‘mifgash,’ the integral part of every Birthright trip where Americans get to know Israelis through their full participation in a 10-day period. These young men fit in so well that they asked to participate a second time on a future Birthright trip.

This tech savvy group particularly enjoyed our visit to Mobileye, the Jerusalem-based company developing autonomous driving technologies. Our group interacted with young Israeli adults their age on the spectrum who use their exceptional visual perceptual abilities review, tag and label video clips of traffic signs, animals and other things on the road, which drivers might encounter. Israeli society continues to learn what we are learning in America — that some people with autism provide the “Autism Advantage” to employers and are better at some tasks and are often more reliable employees than non-disabled workers.

I do not think our December group encountered any negative attitudes toward people with disabilities from the moment they gathered in Newark Liberty Airport until they returned home.

In February, I led 23 participants with intellectual, developmental and sensory disabilities (blindness) on the Tikvah Ramah Birthright trip. Trip participants are affiliated with Tikvah programs at our Ramah camps in the U.S. and Canada where people with disabilities have been included in camp and vocational programs since 1970.  

On this trip, we similarly encountered mostly positive, welcoming attitudes toward people with disabilities. For me, the trip started a few days before take-off when I joined a participant, her family and friends to celebrate her aliyah to the torah and a prayer for safe travel to Israel. Debbie M had asked her rabbi for the honor and it was seamless. In fact, Rabbi Woodward at BEKI congregation in New Haven, Ct., spoke of her involvement in the shul and her job at the local JCC; he did not once mention her disability or that February is JDAIM.  BEKI naturally includes everyone everyday — at BEKI, there is no need for a special month devoted to disability inclusion.

As we gathered our participants near the Welcome Center at Newark Liberty Airport, we requested not so well known Sunflower Lanyards for all participants. This colorful lanyard is a subtle, silent way to let airport employees know that a passenger has a hidden (or visible) disability and may need extra support while traveling. It didn’t necessarily expedite things with El Al security or with our pre-boarding, but we were shown kindness, respect and mostly patience throughout. (Caveat: we are still not sure why one participant’s Mr. Potato Head was taken from his knapsack and thoroughly inspected!) On the plane to Israel, as I walked the aisles on several occasions to distribute medication or to assure allergy-sensitive kosher meals were delivered properly, passengers kindly offered to help seatmates. 

Our time in Israel was perhaps the best indicator of how far we have come in terms of attitudes towards people with disabilities. The ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv has been working hard to make the museum more accessible and easier to navigate for people with a wide range of disabilities.  Israel has very progressive laws and policies “mandating” that the elderly and people with disabilities “cut the line” in stores and elsewhere (ptur min hatur — exempt from the line) and companies are required to hire a percentage of workers with disabilities based on the size of the company. The 130 Korean tourists in our Jerusalem hotel were mostly fine with our entering the line in front of them in the crowded dining room.

Our group frequently attracted attention from hotel guests.  Guests peeked in to our Shabbat tefillot (prayers) and to our post dinner oneg featuring singing and dancing. They wanted to know where this spirited singing was coming from! They often engaged us in conversation, told us they did not know Birthright offered such trips, and told us of a grandchild or child — in Israel, France or the United States — with disabilities.  

We also encountered well-meaning comments, which were reminiscent of attitudes toward people with disabilities from an earlier time. “Yasher koach” (“Congratulations” or “good job”) shouted a carload of people as our group slowly crossed Hayarkon Street on the way to pray Shabbat morning under a gazebo at one of many accessible beach access points. “This is a mitzvah gedolah” (a big mitzvah) we heard from well-intentioned people as they left the plane ahead of us when we touched down at Newark. We do not think of our work with people with disabilities as a “mitzvah” — a good deed or religious obligation.

We smiled and thanked them for appreciating our hard work and dedication to making sure people with disabilities have an inclusive, immersive Israel experience.  We didn’t tell them that we were still recovering from the shock of two passengers in different areas of the plane who asked the flight attendant if they could have their seats so they didn’t have to sit next to members of our group with Down Syndrome.  

On second thought, maybe we still need JDAIM for the time being.

Original Article Published On The JNS

“It is a crazy business,” said the shortstop’s father, Steve. “It is extremely stressful all of the time.”

After 21-year-old Nicaraguan pitcher Duque Hebbert struck out three of the four batters he faced—all-stars Juan Soto, Julio Rodríguez and Rafael Devers—at the World Baseball Classic in Miami, a Detroit Tigers scout offered him a Minor League contract on the spot. But for most players, including most of Team Israel’s roster, who may never reach the big leagues, the World Baseball Classic could be the largest crowd before which they will ever play.

When JNS caught up with Michael Wielansky, 26, ahead of Israel’s blowout loss on March 14 and asked what will be next for him after the competition, Team Israel’s shortstop, who lives in St. Louis, allowed that was a good question.

“I hope I’ll get a call from an [MLB] affiliate, or I’ll play independent ball,” he said. The latter refers to a league that is outside the Major League Baseball-run Minor Leagues.

One possibility is finishing up his last year of a bachelor’s degree in business and economics at the College of Wooster in Ohio.

“The whole journey is really crazy,” Steve Wielansky, the player’s father, told JNS.

‘A great hitter and fielder’

Growing up in St. Louis, Wielansky celebrated his bar mitzvah and confirmation at Temple Israel. “My parents did a good job instilling a love of Judaism in me,” he said. “I learned a lot about Judaism.”

Steve and Linda Wielansky reported that their son was a good athlete who played soccer and basketball, as well as baseball. It was difficult to juggle sports and Hebrew school, but the family made it work.

For Wielansky, who stood 4-foot-9 inches at his bar mitzvah, professional sports seemed a remote possibility. He was only 5 feet tall when he entered high school but 6 feet by his graduation—and he did not stop there. Today, Wielansky stands at 6 feet 2 inches.

“He was a great hitter and fielder, but he couldn’t get recruited,” his father said.

After graduating from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis, Wielansky attended College of Wooster in Ohio, where he hit .425 and won a gold glove award for his stellar defense at shortstop on the baseball team. The summer after his sophomore year in 2017, he was the most valuable player at the prestigious Valley Baseball League collegiate program, where he topped the league in on-base and slugging percentages, hits, runs and doubles.

In 2018, Wielansky hit .401 and broke Wooster’s career records for assists and triples. He was named a first-team all-American and, in both 2017 and 2018, a Mideast Region position player of the year. In the latter year, scouts started paying attention, including his hometown St. Louis Cardinals.

The Houston Astros drafted Wielansky as the 552nd overall pick, which came in the 18th round in 2018. He was a junior.

When her son was drafted, Linda said their rabbi lost a joke from his repertoire when he nudged students to exert themselves in their studies.

The rabbi told her that Wielansky’s draft really messed things up for him. She asked why. “I always tell the kids, ‘It’s not like you’re going to be a professional athlete or anything,’ ” he said. “Now I can’t say that anymore.”

Steve and Linda Wielansky with their son, Michael Wielansky, at the World Baseball Classic in Miami in March 2023. Credit: Courtesy.

‘My father and grandfather were my role models’

Wielansky’s paternal grandfather, Norman, pitched in the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles organizations in 1950, 1951 and 1954. Norman Wielansky, a right-hander, was part of a combined no-hitter on May 3, 1950. He was especially proud of his grandson but didn’t get to see Wielansky in his recent performance in Miami. He died at the age 88 in 2019.

“My father and grandfather were my role models,” said Wielansky. “They got me into baseball.”

Norman Wielansky was 6 foot 3 inches and 200 pounds, while his grandson currently weighs in at 190. The Astros wanted him to be 210, said his father, Steve. Wielansky bounced around the Astros organization for several years, playing for the Minor League teams Tri-City Valleycats, Quad Cities River Bandits, Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Corpus Christi Hooks, Sugar Land Skeeters and Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

The Astros elevated Wielansky to triple-A in 2021 but released him on March 27, 2022. “They didn’t have room for him,” said his father, Steve. Wielansky signed with the Long Island Ducks that April. But he didn’t play for that independent league team, and in May, he was traded to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.

In January 2023, Wielansky’s career found him in Panama and as part of the Caribbean World Series. In February, he learned he would play for Israel in the World Baseball Classic. Wielansky found a lot of success in the Panamanian league, which his team won and where he hit .347.

Representing Israel, whose team “instills a culture,” in March was a great experience for Wielansky, who particularly enjoyed playing with other Jewish athletes. The team came together to hear Megillah on Purim, for Shabbat dinners and to learn about the Israeli national anthem—for which players stood, many with kippot under their hats—and had Israel emblazoned on its jerseys.

He played in Israel’s first game, a victory over Nicaragua, and he went 2-4 and raised his World Baseball Classic average to .400, in Israel’s 5-1 loss to Venezuela. (He did not play in the mercy-rule losses to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.)

His parents, sister and girlfriend told JNS that they enjoyed watching him play. “The atmosphere was so electric, with all that screaming,” his father said. “It was really fun.”

The Wielanskys hope a Major League affiliate picks up their son, who has returned to St. Louis. “It is a crazy business,” said Steve. “It is extremely stressful all of the time. It has been a phenomenal journey, and you hope your kid will do well on this great, long journey.”