Har HaShem Receives Honor for Including People with Disabilities

Congregation Har HaShem will be honored for successfully promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in congregational life. The Boulder synagogue will be featured as an exemplar/mentoring congregation on an online learning site that is part of the Union for Reform Judaism-Ruderman Family Foundation Initiative on Disabilities Inclusion.

The upcoming Web site, available to all Reform congregations and professionals, will offer webinars, videos and print resources provided by disability and inclusion leaders . The site will also feature practical strategies and guidance to help to create congregational communities where everyone can fully participate.

For the past several years awareness of inclusion of people with disabilities in Boulder’s Jewish Community has grown, says Susan Glairon, founder of Har HaShem’s Inclusion Committee. Most recently Congregations Bonai Shalom and Har HaShem’s Inclusion Committees joined to offer speaking events, featuring Elaine Hall of HBO’s, Emmy-winning “Autism: The Musical. ” Since the September event, Congregation Nevei Kodesh’s board has decided to join Bonai Shalom and Har HaShem in their efforts improve inclusion within their synagogue.

URJ plans to launch the site http://disabilitiesinclusion.org by the end of October.

Congregations, organizations and agencies who would like to join the Boulder Jewish Inclusion Project, a group whose mission will be to create a more inclusive Jewish community, can contact Susan Glairon at sglairon@comcast.net.