Deputy Chair is a role that has a certain level of flexibility in its definition, and when I rejoined the SLT a few years after being Vice-Chair for BES@Yavneh I saw two strategic areas where I felt I could make a difference: implementing the ideas of Reimagining Shul and relational Judaism and helping the community move on together after some heated debate about our future.
Here I want to focus on Accessibility, an area of Reimagining Shul where we haven’t yet done enough but I also want to take the opportunity to thank the team behind the many Community Conversations over the past year and all of those that have been busy organising or attending our successful VIBES groups, two areas where we have already made a big difference.
Accessibility and Inclusion are all about helping more members of our community feel that they belong, particularly those who may otherwise feel marginalised due to barriers like mobility issues, visual impairment, hearing loss, or neurodiversity.
At the AGM, we said that we’ll focus on Accessibility over the next year or so, and we discussed what a better future could look like, and what resources we have as a community to realise that future together, a future where we bring down the barriers to belonging.
As part of the conversation about Accessibility, I want to hear from people with lived experience of accessibility issues and from people who would like to help make a change, develop our understanding of the issues that some people encounter in accessing BES services, activities and events, and slowly start to make a difference.
A big thank you to Bradley Conway, Head of Kodesh at Gesher School, who has taken on the Accessibility and Inclusion portfolio on the Shul Council. In addition, it’s great to be working closely with the United Synagogue to become more disability inclusive. Daniella Neifeld, previously Youth Director at BES, is now the United Synagogue’s community participation manager. Rivka Steinberg, the US lead advocate for additional needs is forming a working group of parent carers to help shape and support this work across the US. In addition, our Care Support Coordinator, Karen Moss is always there to help anyone who is in need, whether you feel like things are getting on top of you or you just need a lift to get to a shul event.
Please get in touch and join us as we collectively strive to make all of our community spaces welcoming, inclusive and engaging for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Simon Berman
BES Deputy Chair