ABSTRACT
I am a Reform rabbi, ordained by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1985. I also earned a PhD in Jewish Studies from the Baltimore Hebrew University in 1993. My area of expertise is rabbinic literature, and my dissertation was eventually published in 1995 by Gallaudet University Press as Disabilities in Judaism from the Tanakh Through the Bavli. I had chosen the topic of disabilities because of a beloved aunt, a professional musician who gradually lost all her hearing. She handled it so magnificently that she became a great inspiration to me. All I can say is, “Beware the energy you beckon toward yourself.” Having written a book about disabilities would not qualify me to address the relational aspects that arise between a sick and/or disabled person and a rabbi. My bona fides come from my own personal suffering.
