Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability

William Gaventa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136453519
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Anesthesiology & Pain Management

A re-examination of Jewish scripture and teachings about disabilitiesFew people are untouched by the issue of disability, whether personally or through a friend or relative. Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability shares moving insights from around the world and across the broad spectrum of Judaism on how and why the Jewish community is incomplete without the presence and participation of the disabled. Authors representing each of the three main movements of JudaismOrthodox, Conservative, and Reformexamine theology, scripture, ethics, practical theology, religious education, and personal experience to understand and apply the lessons and wisdom of the past to issues of the present.Authors from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia reflect on their theological understandings of specific disabilities and on disability as a whole. Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability re-examines tradition, teachings, and beliefs to shatter stereotypes of Judaism and common interpretations of scripture. This unique book addresses several disabilities (blindness, deafness, intellectual disabilities, autism, learning disabilities), and a wide range of topics, including human rights and disabilities, Jewish laws concerning niddah, misconceptions about disabilities in the Hebrew Bible, Jewish community programs to include people with disabilities, and the need to educate American Jews about Jewish genetic diseases.Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability examines:

• three methods that allow Jews who are blind to participate in the Torah service
  
• the spiritual needs of people with learning disabilities
  
• the attitude of Jewish Law toward marriage and parenthood on people with intellectual disabilities
  
• how the rabbis of the Mishnah incorporated Greco-Roman beliefs about the connections between hearing, speech, and intelligence into Jewish law
  
• a sampling of opinions issued on matters concerning disabilities by the Responsa Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
  
• how the Jewish sages have made participation by people with disabilities possible
  
• and much more

Jewish Perspectives on Theology and the Human Experience of Disability also includes reviews of Judaism and Disability: Portrayals in Ancient Texts from the Tanach through the Bavil and Disability in Jewish Law, as well as comprehensive resource collections. This book is an essential read for clergy and lay leaders involved in the support of people with disabilities, for the families of people with disabilities, and for anyone working with the disabled.

THEOLOGY IN PRACTICE

Judaism, Theology and the Human Rights of People with Disabilities

Melinda Jones, BA, LLB

SUMMARY. How we understand Jewish attitudes to disability will depend on whether, like the reform movement, we take the torah to be the only relevant text, or whether our understanding of Judaism incorporates the “oral law,” the Talmud. The belief that all human beings were created in the image of God presupposes an acceptance that each life is of inherent value to the creator despite apparent imperfections. The requirement to heal the world through deeds of loving kindness is incumbent on each and every Jew independent of disability and it is the responsibility of communities to remove any barriers there are to observance. Essentially, Judaism teaches us that one must treat others as they themselves would wish to be treated, and this extends equally to those who have disabilities. doi:10.1300/J095v10n03_08 [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Human rights, Judaism, Halacha, equality, disability, inclusion, dignity

Theology involves “thinking” or “talking about” God, and invites questions about the existence of God, the nature of God, the relationship between God and humanity, and the relationship between God and religious practice. Theology leads to consideration of the meaning of life and death, and of human suffering, and encourages speculation about the possibility and significance of an afterlife. Evidence to support theological claims is to be found in the sacred texts of the tradition and in the folklore, stories and myths developed throughout the generations of communities of believers.

It is generally assumed that theological questions, debates and considerations are what makes a religion. While God is at the heart of Judaism and is present in all aspects of thinking and living, theological questions are almost tangential to the Jewish religious tradition. The vast majority of books on Judaism focus on questions other than theological ones. Judaism is primarily concerned with human behaviour and the question of what we need to do to become close to God. To establish this we are implored to study Torah, and to follow Jewish law.

Despite the formidable intellectual energies Jews have devoted throughout the centuries to interpreting the will of God, they rarely wrote systematic theologies. They prayed to God and argued with Him, but they did not try to fit Him into the finite categories of human thought.¹

This paper seeks to answer a number of specific questions about Jewish theology in relation to disability. First, what does Jewish theology tell us about people with disabilities, and more importantly, how does Jewish theology support or undermine the human rights of people with disabilities. Secondly, to what extent can Jewish thought provide a worldview that offers solace and hope to people with disabilities in the real world, and how does Jewish theology require society to respond to disability issues. Thirdly, I consider the questions of whether Jewish theology is consistent with the newly developed human rights framework for people with disabilities. Finally, I am concerned to establish whether the ideological imperative of an inclusive society in which diversity is celebrated and in which people with disabilities are treated with equality, concern and respect is consistent with Jewish theology. These considerations will provide insight into the place of people with disabilities in the Jewish world.

It is often argued that it is wrong to speak of Judaism as if it comprises one idea, ideology or theology just as it is wrong to assume that there is one Christian theology. Judaism, it is argued, is more accurately a reference to “Judaisms” which entail a range of theological understandings around the core ideas of the revelation at Mount Sinai, the belief in one and only one God, and the notion of chosen-ness. This view certainly provides a means of including within a discussion of Jewish theology the very different ideologies which emerge from Reform or Progressive Judaism, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism and mainstream or Orthodox Judaism. It gives equal status to the different Jewish denominations, and allows for there to be Jewish truths rather than a Jewish Truth.² It legitimizes the practices of all Jewish religious groups and organizations, and empowers those who believe themselves to be outsiders from mainstream Judaism.

The Chief Rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth, Jonathon Sacks, takes a quite different view, however. He argues that, while there can be and is pluralism to be found in Jewish social life and practice, there is only one Judaism.³ The plurality among Jews is certainly evident: there are Jews who consider themselves part of a race or culture and consider Judaism as religion as irrelevant; there are Jews who are completely assimilated, and others who believe the only relevance of Judaism is the identity of birth; there are Jews who are heterosexual and others who are homosexual; there are Jews who are committed to the empowerment of women and others who believe firmly in patriarchy; there are Jews who pray, perform Jewish rituals, and live their lives around structured religion; and there are Jews who believe that ethical conduct is the totality of Judaism. There are different expressions and interpretations of the obligations of Judaism and different lifestyles associated with this. There are Jews who consider that they live Jewish destiny to the full by living in Israel and have Zionism (Jewish nationalism) as their fundamental understanding of Judaism. There are others, living scattered into small communities across the entire world, speaking diverse languages and sharing the diverse majority cultural experiences of the societies in which they live. The plurality of Jewish experience is an uncontroversial fact and the diversity of cultural and social practices so great that Emanuel Kant and Hegel considered that Judaism is not a religion at all.⁴ But for Chief Rabbi Sacks, there is only one legitimate version of Judaism. Those belonging to religious organizations which are non-Orthodox or non-mainstream may be very good people and very good Jews. They are, however, simply mistaken, confused or ignorant about the requirements of Jewish law.

Adopting the first perspective on Judaism complicates the task of understanding Jewish theology and understanding the relationship between Jewish theology, human rights and disability. Adopting the latter simplifies the task. While I am personally drawn to Chief Rabbi Sacks’ argument, my political purpose suggests the acceptance of the Judaisms’ perspective. My conclusion that Jewish theology supports a human rights account of people with disabilities, and that Judaism can therefore be brought in to bear on the secular discussions about the means of empowering people with disabilities, would be considerably weakened if it were to make sense only within the framework of Orthodox/mainstream/traditional Judaism. As such, I will set aside this debate, and continue my discussion of Jewish theology including alternative perspectives as variations on a theme, wherever they appear to be pertinent.

As a human rights scholar and disability activist, there are three reasons for examining Judaism and Jewish theology. The first is that a human rights model of disability takes all social and political institutions– including religion–to be potential sites of discrimination against people with disabilities. The discrimination may be subtle and not immediately apparent, as it may take the form of structural or ideological barriers to the full inclusion of people with disabilities. It therefore becomes incumbent on disability researchers to examine and disclose barriers operating within institutions, in this case within the purview of Jewish theology. Any aspects of Judaism which operate to prevent the participation of people with disabilities, on this account, require reanalysis and rectification.

The second reason for interrogating Judaism and Jewish theology is that, where it is found to be consistent with the human rights approach, it can provide an additional foundation for the ethical arguments surrounding human rights. While “rights” are based on exclusionary liberal constructions of the state, “human rights” attempt to transcend particular political ideologies and circumstances and to be universal and indivisible. My own interpretation of human rights is based on the inherent moral equivalence of all people, the correlative obligation to treat all people with equality, dignity and respect, and the aspiration for an inclusive society in which diversity is celebrated and individual difference valued. These ethical principles underlie human rights law, but currently have relatively weak articulation. If support for this ethical schema can be found in Jewish theology, the validity of my approach will be greater.

The third reason for my preliminary investigation of Jewish theology in terms of the human rights of people with disabilities is that it is hoped that this will spur other scholars to similarly challenge other religious systems and beliefs. Given that Judaism is very much a minority religion, and the Jewish people are few in number, whatever success my argument may have in bringing about social change for people with disabilities is necessarily limited. This essay represents a preliminary excursion into Jewish theology. Significantly more work needs to be done if there is to be any possibility of achieving and maintaining an inclusive society. It is hoped that this preliminary investigation of these questions will lead to further scholarship about Judaism and disability and to comparative analysis in other religious traditions.

Before I turn to my analysis of Jewish theology, it is necessary to clarify the inclusive principles of human rights and to explain the perspective on disability presented by a human rights model of disability.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Recognition of the human rights of people with disabilities has been slow in coming. While the impetus for the modern movement of human rights was the atrocities of WWII, the impact of Nazi policies of eugenics as it related to people with disabilities has rarely played centre stage. The attempted genocide of the Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust affronted the sensibilities of civilized democrats, despite the long history of antisemitism in which they were implicated. However, the abuse of people with disabilities during WWII was consistent with the eugenic philosophies of social Darwinists, health professionals and lawyers throughout the Western world. High profile, well-respected scholars and public figures joined Eugenic and Hygiene Societies which supported the wholesale sterilization of people with disabilities. This was such an acceptable position that liberal US Supreme Court Judge, Oliver Wendell Holmes did not hesitate in saying, in support of the medical violation of a young woman, “that three generations of imbeciles were enough.”⁵ Those people unfortunate enough to live with disabilities were tragedies, objects of pity; their lives were considered to be not worth living and their very existence provoked fear and disgust. People with disabilities were so marginalized that they rarely made it on to the political or social agenda. They were, trul...