Solidarity

by Noah Strauss

This parsha is full of disability Torah. Hashem says of Moses, “With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles.” Moses speaks to the people through his interpreter, his brother Aaron. However, he speaks to G!d directly.

I am reminded of the writing of Rabbi Elliot Kukla, which was read at my friend Emet’s funeral:

“Moses had a speech impediment and was appointed by God as the spokesperson for the enslaved Hebrew people with the help of his brother Aaron. So too, may each of us be granted the aids and access we need to be leaders.”

The leadership of one of our most central prophets, Moshe, and in turn our communal liberation, was made possible through cooperation. The social model of disability teaches us that it is inaccessible societies which exclude disabled people, not their disabilities themselves. In cooperating with Moses, Aaron represents a society that is committed to cooperating to be accessible. Our collective liberation depends on it. Without the cooperation of Aaron, Moshe would not have been able to lead the people out of Egypt. What an amazing feat Aaron and Moses did together, what a model of a community they set!

One of my favorite Jewish thinkers, Buber, said that Judaism is about the encounter, mifgash, between I and Thou, the self and the other. Encounter transforms all involved. Interpretation is a facilitation of genuine relational encounter.

We all lose when disabled people do not have access to leadership. There is a difference between creating a community inclusive of disabled congregants, and creating a community in which disabled people lead.

This is not the only example of profound disability Torah in this passage.

As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales.

And Aaron said to Moses, “O, my lord, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly.  Let her not be like a still birth which emerges from its mothers’ womb with half its flesh eaten away!”

So Moses cried out to G!d, saying O God, pray heal her!” Ana el na Rafa na la.

But G!d said to Moses “If her father spat in her face would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and then let her be readmitted.”

“So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted.

Reading this section I am reminded of one another of the readings at Emet’s funeral, from Rabbi Elliot Kukla:

“When Miriam was sick the whole camp waited for her and stopped traveling for a week in the wilderness, until she was able to leave her tent. May our own communities surround us in our tents when we are unable to leave our homes.  And still, the isolation of those living with trauma and chronic illness is the truest evil of ableism in our society.”

When Emet was in hospice his friends surrounded him, forming an emergent network of care. It was built of cooperation in the same way Aaron cooperated with Moses to support his leadership.

It was imperfect, a fledgling effort begun out of necessity, but no less revolutionary. It began at first because the hospice center would not allow Emet to stay because of his service dog, unless there was someone there with Emet all the time to walk the dog. This violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, and from the beginning there was tension between the hospice and Emet’s friends about the service dog. Nevertheless, they joyfully showed up over and over again, bringing with them decorations to cover the walls. Over time it began to transform until it resembled a dorm room, rather than a hospice room. It showed all of us that suffering itself can be transformed through solidarity.

The theme of this parsha that sticks out to me is tangible, physical solidarity.

Moses asked G!d “why not someone else?” G!d said “who do you think made you the way you are?” It is because cooperation, the connective tissue of a society, is the force of G!d. G!d wants cooperation, relationship, from us. Freedom can’t and isn’t meant to be won alone. It is only with others that we will become free. The first act of liberation is encounter, relationship, cooperation.

Mariame Kaba says “Everything worthwhile is done with other people.”

Not placing a stumbling block before the blind is about the physical built environment as an intentional act of inaccessibility. The social model of disability means that sometimes we can be the stumbling block in each other’s way, and instead we must choose to be interdependent and cooperate, like Aaron.

I am an organizer, educator, and writer with a degree in Judaism and Human Rights at Gratz College. I reside in Philadelphia. I am interested in pursuing a rabbinate focused on chronic illness, Deafness, and disability.

I helped to create the National Access & Disability Justice Team at Never Again Action, which develops guides for accessible in person and virtual actions, facilitates workshops on accessibility and disability justice, and hosts disabled speakers. In 2021, we hosted a Jewish community screening of Crip Camp followed by a Q&A with Denise and Neil Jacobson. I have also consulted on accessibility for Jewish Voice for Peace and Tzedek Lab. 

In 2022 I interned as Ma’avir Fellow with the National Havurah Committee. I am an alum of Bend the Arc’s Jeremiah community organizing fellowship, Repair the World’s Service Corps, and Mayyim Hayyim’s Rising Tide mikveh guide training. I dream of creating accessible mikveh.

My writing is featured in Jewish Currents, New Voices, Lilith Magazine, The Forward, and Jewschool. My writing about disability is featured on Disability Visibility.

In 2022 I taught a course through Hebrew College called Plagues & Prophets in Performance, focused on chronically ill and disabled characters as prophetic figures during plagues. The course included study of Angels in America, Rent, The Normal Heart, and the book of Jeremiah. . 

In 2019, my best friend, the rabbi Emet Tauber passed away from complications of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). A mutual aid network formed around Emet. It was made up predominantly of queer & trans disabled Jewish people. At any given time, there were at least five or six other Jewish folks with EDS in the room. It was a braintrust of disability and chronic illness, based in cross disability solidarity.It was a glimpse of a new and different kind of world, a vision for systems of care. 

I developed and implemented an ASL curriculum at Jewish Children’s Folkshul where I’ve taught 4th and 5th grade for seven years. I facilitate a multi faith community in ASL using a viral disability justice centered TikTok account with my partner. 

My writing is featured in Jewish Currents, New Voices, Lilith Magazine, The Forward, Jewschool, and Disability Visibility. I created EmetProject.org.