WAE to Connect

Written by: Ellen and Sam Weinstock for Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.  February is Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) when Jewish organizations join to raise awareness and foster acceptance and inclusion of people with developmental disabilities. In recognition of JDAIM, we want to spotlight how JSDD’s WAE Center fulfills this mission and has opened many doors for our son, Steven. Think back to the early days of the COVID pandemic when you were socially isolated. These were tough times, and they give one an opportunity to understand what life is like for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities.   People with special needs are often physically and socially isolated from their communities. We had long been searching for […]

Story By Jessica Goldstein Name: Yvette Lucas   Title: Manager of Pre-vocational Arts   How long have you been with JSDD? More than 9 years   Was this the position you started in? No, I started as program coordinator of WAE Beyond, an evening program with a series of workshops offered our members and to the general community. Later, I was asked to manage another program with prevocational classes called “Workability” which took place during the day. The vision for the program was to provide members with opportunities to learn pre-vocational skills in specialized art-based classes. The first offering was a painting class.  From there, it grew to include product design, printmaking, fiber arts, jewelry, weaving, and other classes.  As […]

Story by Jessica Goldstein The participants were happy to welcome the Sabbath and New Years Eve over Zoom. Rachel said the blessings over the candles and Mark blessed the challah and the grape juice. The torah portion this week Vaera G-d tells Moses and Aaron to go to Pharoah and demand he free the Israelites.  Pharoah refuses and G-d begins to unleash plagues on the Egyptians. After each plague Pharaoh pleads for it to end and promises he will free the Israelites. As soon as the plague ends, Pharaoh changes his mind, which brings on another plague. The portion ends with Pharoah promising to set the Israelites free if the plague of hail ends. The hail stops and once again, […]

The WAE Poetry Workshop will help participants spark their creativity with Playful, Original Expressions of Mind and Spirit. The workshop, led by instructor Randy Harris, will run on Mondays, starting 5/10, from 3:30pm to 4:30pm.

In honor of Black History Month, we wanted to spotlight WAE to Connect’s “Let’s Talk About Us” class, where the work of understanding social justice issues is underway.