Disability Justice Torah Circle
Disability Justice Torah Circle Offerings
The DJTC Mailing List is a weekly reminder of upcoming programs, as well as day-of reminders for all programs with info about the current discussion and any texts. We also send a longer newsletter a few times each year.
If you’d like to receive program reminders and/or the newsletter, please reach out to Jess at [email protected]
and cc Program Coordinator Olivia Devorah at [email protected]
3rd Thursdays, 9/18, 10/16, 11/20, 12/18 at 2:30-4:00pm ET (1:30pm CT, 11:30am PT)
This is an monthly workshop for people who identify as disabled or chronically ill to explore disability justice teachings as they intersect with our Jewish lives. We will gather to build a well of ‘svara’ around disability justice and spirituality by seeking the Torah — animating teachings — inherent in the work of a range of disability justice leaders, and bringing those teachings into conversation with our own experiences. Texts will be in English and from a variety of disabled writers and activists.
This Fall, we are reading Eli Clare’s “Brilliant Imperfection“
This program is for anyone who identifies as high risk, chronically ill, disabled, or exploring that identification.
Register for all DJTC Programs at this Zoom Link! (Meeting ID: 893 6720 4658)
1st Sundays, 9/7, 10/5, 11/2, 12/7 at 5-6:30pm ET (4pm CT, 2pm PT)
This is an ongoing, drop-in spiritual practice & support group for people who identify as still taking the pandemic very seriously, and feeling gaslit and abandoned by most of society. The space will strive to be collaborative and will explicitly center wisdom and experiences of high-risk people. Together, we will seek spiritual resources and practices of solidarity & survival to help us weather this time and its existential impact. Each session features practice around anti-gaslighting, ancestors, music, and prayer or wishes for the world and each other.
This program is for anyone who identifies as still taking the pandemic seriously.
Register for all DJTC Programs at this Zoom Link! (Meeting ID: 893 6720 4658)
Fridays, September 12 & 19 at 1-1:45pm ET (Noon CT, 10am PT)
Did you know that every week, our friends at the Disability Torah Project publish incredible weekly Divrei Torah by a wide range of disabled authors? These pieces are probing, multivocal, disability-centered Torah on the weekly parsha, and I really encourage you to check them out. (You can even sign up to write one yourself!) Huge thanks to Mat Wilson for their leadership of this much-needed project. The Disability Justice Torah Circle is piloting a weekly community discussion space this September, responding to a growing request for a place to read and expound on the writings from the Disability Torah Project!
Register for all DJTC Programs at this Zoom Link! (Meeting ID: 893 6720 4658)
Sundays, 9/14, 10/26, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23, and 12/7, at 1:30-3 p.m. ET (12:30pm CT, 10:30am PT)
Join the Disability Justice Torah Circle and the Disability Torah Project for an exploration of the first blessings of the Amidah, Judaism’s central prayer. Together we’ll study the Hebrew root words (shorashim) that shape each blessing, and create disability-centered, embodied approaches to prayer. Each session combines havruta (small groups) and full-group reflection, asking what it means to call on ancestors, pray for sustenance, declare holiness, seek awareness, return, and be pardoned. Come to as many or as few sessions as work for you, and co-create new possibilities for prayer, rooted in bodymindspirit wisdom.
Find the full course description and sliding-scale tuition options on the Somatic Amidah Registration form.
Check Back for Future Dates!
This dinner comes to you at popular demand for an online shabbat gathering space. We’ll say blessings over wine and challah together, and then share in a fun, casual activity! (Bring your own dinner wherever you’re zooming in from.)
This program is for everyone seeking an accessible, disability justice-oriented shabbat space.
Register for all DJTC Programs at this Zoom Link! (Meeting ID: 893 6720 4658)
Check Back for Future Dates!
To complement our new Shabbat Dinners, we’ll also be sharing in some havdalah ceremonies! Gather your own havdalah supplies (wine, spices, multi-wick candle) where you’re zooming in from if you want, or just participate with us on Zoom. We’ll do havdalah itself towards the end of the gathering, so that shabbat is halachically over in as many time zones as possible. Before havdalah, we’ll do a sweet activity together and read aloud from a book or story of our choosing.
This program is for everyone seeking an accessible, disability justice-oriented shabbat space.
Register for all DJTC Programs at this Zoom Link! (Meeting ID: 893 6720 4658)