For Activist Who Founded Matan, A School's Many Failings Hit Close To Home

Posted: Fri, 05/24/2013 - 11:59 | Posted by: Meredith Englander Polsky | The New Normal

In 19 days, my daughter will complete her last year of Jewish day school. I had many visions in my mind for this moment: Seeing her in a cap and gown with friends she’s known since kindergarten; finding the picture of her eating ice cream with a little boy in first grade and placing it next to their prom picture; feeling pride that although we made sacrifices, my husband and I provided a solid Jewish education to our child.

And some of those visions may have become reality, if not for the fact that Lucy will turn seven just before her last day at Jewish day school. She is completing first grade, not 12th.

For Young Adults Who Can't Access Hillel, Where Is Jewish Life?

Posted: Wed, 05/22/2013 - 14:57 | Posted by: Betty Ross And Becky Voorwinde | The New Normal

Ilyse loves singing Hebrew songs that she learned at Camp Ramah in New England. She loves watching the camp video where she can relive her summer memories as an Amitzim (special needs) camper, laughing with all her friends. That sense of Jewish connection and belonging that Ilyse feels at camp is exactly what we, as her mother and older sister, dream of finding for her in her school year and year-round in her adult life. Yesterday, Ilyse turned twenty. She has Down Syndrome.

Proposal By Text: How Rotem, IDF Vet With A Brain Injury, Won Shelly

Posted: Tue, 05/21/2013 - 14:55 | Posted by: Leah Hakimian | The New Normal

It was no ordinary marriage proposal. Rotem Langer is a 31-year-old disabled veteran of the Israeli army whose speech was affected by his injuries. “Sometimes I forget words,” says Rotem. “I didn’t want that to happen when I proposed to Shelly.”

Life Lessons In The Lunchline

Posted: Mon, 05/20/2013 - 13:09 | Posted by: Lisa Friedman | The New Normal

Rabbi Chanina taught, "I have learned much from my teachers. I have learned more from my colleagues than my teachers. But I have learned more from my students than from all of them." (Babylonian Talmud, Taanit, 7a)