{"id":32958,"date":"2026-06-02T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/?p=32958"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:38:27","slug":"accessible-to-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/synagogue-prayer\/accessible-to-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible To All"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article is part of a <\/em>Jewish Action series on accessibility. In this installment, we look at physical accessibility\u2014how spaces can better welcome everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Even as shuls are renovating to accommodate congregants who have disabilities, and <\/em>mikvaot are being built with wheelchair access, the question remains: Are our communal institutions truly open to everyone?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By the time Lincoln Square Synagogue on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side moved to its new location in 2013, Nathaniel Richman Cohen was not there to see it. But his presence is felt in the very architecture of the shul, in the pews, in the amud<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel, who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and passed away from the disease at the age of twenty-one in 2007, was wheelchair-bound from the age of eight and fully quadriplegic by his mid-teens. He and his mother, Shelley, who served on the shul\u2019s architectural committee, inspired a sanctuary fully accessible to all. In fact, the sanctuary was named after him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are Kohanim,\u201d says Shelley. \u201cNathaniel saw his kehunah<\/em> and his belonging to the Jewish people as just as integral to him as the Duchenne muscular dystrophy he lived with. He did not want to be denied any aspect of Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathaniel\u2019s insistence on fully participating in frum<\/em> life is not unusual. Disability advocates note that over the past two decades, more and more individuals with physical or other disabilities have expressed similar sentiments and, as a result, shuls, mikvaot<\/em> and communal institutions have begun to make tangible changes, gradually paving the way toward a more inclusive Orthodox community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should a male who is in a wheelchair not get an aliyah<\/em> to the Torah?\u201d asks Shelley who first started advocating for her son and others with disabilities in the 1980s. Since then, she observes, a \u201csea change\u201d has reshaped synagogues and institutions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lincoln Square Synagogue on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side is a model of inclusivity. Since its renovation in 2013, the synagogue has incorporated multiple accessibility features, including wheelchair seating in the sanctuary and a rear sound circle meant to enhance sound for those with hearing impairments. Courtesy of Lincoln Square Synagogue<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs the baby boomers are aging and people are beginning to have mobility issues, things are changing,\u201d she says. \u201cMany synagogues with women\u2019s sections located on balconies are now installing Shabbat elevators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lincoln Square Synagogue\u2019s new building has incorporated multiple accessibility features: wheelchair seating in the sanctuary, a rear sound circle meant to enhance sound for those with hearing impairments, and a sensory room for children. The latter is for \u201cthose kids who get sensory overload,\u201d says Shelley. \u201cA room where that child knows he can go any time for quiet, soothing light and softer chairs. Kids can go relax a little bit.\u201d Shelley realized the need for a sensory room at a bar mitzvah several years ago. She saw an aide standing in the shul lobby, trying to calm an autistic child. The child\u2019s mother soon joined them, but she was also the bar mitzvah boy\u2019s mother. Instead of being in the sanctuary, sharing in her son\u2019s simchah<\/em>, she was in the lobby, trying to soothe her overwhelmed child. \u201cI thought to myself,\u201d says Shelley, \u201chow could it be that a boy is about to be bar mitzvahed, and there\u2019s nothing to accommodate this younger child with special needs?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why should a male who is in a wheelchair not get an aliyah<\/em> to the Torah?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rebecca Mayer, MSW, Yachad\u2019s managing director of Communal Engagement, notes the progess she has witnessed over time: the increasing presence of large-print and braille siddurim<\/em> as well as designated wheelchair parking and wider spaces in shuls and communal institutions, all of which point to a growing awareness of the need to meet a wide range of needs. She strongly supports the creation of \u201cinclusion committees\u201d within shuls to identify accessibility gaps and develop solutions, ensuring that the voices of those with disabilities are part of the conversation. \u201cInclusion committees help keep the conversation ongoing and are personal to that shul\u2019s community\u2014their unique constituents and their unique needs,\u201d says Mayer. \u201cThe goal is to keep asking the questions of how every member of the shul can feel that sense of belonging and what actions the shul can take when barriers are identified.\u201d In addition to consulting with the end users, it is important, advocates say, to consult with experts in the field.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels has been at the helm of Boston\u2019s Congregation Shaarei Tefillah since 1995. He agrees that a movement towards inclusivity began in the Jewish world at large some twenty-five years ago, with attempts made to reach out to disengaged community members, a demographic that included those with disabilities. And when it came time for Shaarei Tefillah to put up a new building, there was no doubt that accessibility was of paramount importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the pride of the community,\u201d says Rabbi Samuels. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t just a pet project for those who felt sidelined or aggrieved. We were building a shul that would match its function with its form, and its form with its function. Inclusivity was very much a driving force.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Lower Merion Community Mikveh is the only fully handicap-accessible mikveh<\/em> in the greater Philadelphia area. The mikveh<\/em> has a water-powered hydraulic lift that can be used on Shabbat and yom tov<\/em>. Courtesy of the Lower Merion Community Mikveh<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

All of Shaarei Tefillah\u2019s spaces are now accessible to everyone. The shulchan<\/em> can be lowered so that a man in a wheelchair getting an aliyah<\/em> can see the Torah. Both the main shul and the ezrat nashim<\/em> were designed to allow maximum visibility for those seated in wheelchairs. The shul\u2019s beit midrash<\/em>, social hall and downstairs children\u2019s room are all accessible as well, and the ramp leading up to the pulpit has a double handrail\u2014one positioned to accommodate a person in a wheelchair and another higher railing for the person pushing that chair.<\/p>\n

While Shaarei Tefillah has an outdoor ramp that allows wheelchair users to access the upstairs sanctuary, it also has an indoor lift that can transport a wheelchair-bound person between floors, although it can only be operated by a non-Jew on Shabbat. (The Zomet Institute introduced its halachic solution for elevators after Shaarei Tefillah was completed.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, we spent $50,000 on the lift, even though it is barely used, but it is inconceivable that we would ask someone to go outside in a Boston winter to use the ramp,\u201d says Rabbi Samuels.<\/p>\n

That type of accommodation was notably absent when Sharon Shapiro-Lacks went to her shul on Purim night to hear Megillah. With the main shul located up a full flight of stairs, a second downstairs minyan also involving a step, and the only door with appropriate access locked, several men were corralled to carry Shapiro-Lacks upstairs to the main shul in her wheelchair. When her husband complained about the lack of accommodations, he was told that the shul wasn\u2019t required to install an elevator because it was grandfathered in under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).<\/p>\n

While the shul does have a chairlift for people who can\u2019t climb stairs, it is useless for Shapiro-Lacks, who has cerebral palsy. \u201cIf you\u2019re a wheelchair user, you can\u2019t transfer into a chairlift, so that really doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d notes Shapiro-Lacks.<\/p>\n

As an advocate for the disabled for more than forty years and the founder and executive director of Yad HaChazakah\u2013the Jewish Disability Empowerment Center, aimed at promoting access to Jewish community life, Shapiro-Lacks wants to see every person able to enjoy all the same communal opportunities presented to others, no matter what their disability or condition may be. She finds that often there is a myopic approach to inclusivity, with shuls that are meant to be accessible being built without any consultation with disability experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cChesed<\/em> can be self-serving,\u201d explains Shapiro-Lacks. \u201cPeople feel good about themselves because they did a good deed and are reacting to a need, while people with disabilities do not want to be needy.\u201d She dislikes the term \u201cspecial needs\u201d because \u201cspecial separates us out from everyone else. We don\u2019t want to be perceived as needy, we want to be proactively accommodated like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro-Lacks isn\u2019t a fan of the term \u201cinclusion\u201d either, noting that people with disabilities of any kind aren\u2019t looking to be included; they want to be equal participants of their own volition. She believes that organizations, yeshivahs and shuls need to look around and see which community members are missing, and then find out why.<\/p>\n

Accessibility is about more than infrastructure; it\u2019s about culture.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAsk, be inquisitive, and don\u2019t assume you know the answers to accommodations, or that they cost a lot of money because very often they do not,\u201d says Shapiro-Lacks.<\/p>\n

Across the Atlantic, Daniella Neifeld, community participation manager at the United Synagogue based in London, has taken a systematic approach to accessibility across the organization\u2019s fifty-six communities in Britain. United Synagogue is the largest umbrella body of Orthodox synagogues in Britain.<\/p>\n

When she took the position two and a half years ago, inclusivity was part of her role, and she defined inclusion broadly as \u201canyone who feels marginalized from the community who shouldn\u2019t.\u201d She began with physical accessibility but quickly realized it\u2019s \u201cmuch more complex than being wheelchair accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe began by asking: What would I want if I were entering a community and had a disability? I\u2019d want to know the layout, whether I could access the building, and what I could do inside it,\u201d says Neifeld.<\/p>\n

Neifeld\u2019s team conducted a full audit of the shuls and communities under her jurisdiction, gathering data and working with designers to create synagogue-specific accessibility symbols, such as indicators for wheelchair access to the bimah<\/em>. While physical signage is still being rolled out, a website now allows visitors to check which communities and shuls are accessible\u2014and to what degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis first step was about transparency,\u201d says Neifeld. \u201cFor example, someone in a wheelchair attending a bar mitzvah can now check in advance to see whether they can access the bimah<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initiative aims to reduce anxiety, inform users, and encourage communities to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing accessible is not just about having a ramp. It\u2019s about whether someone feels welcome when they come in,\u201d says Neifeld.<\/p>\n

That same attention to access is beginning to shape other communal spaces as well. In Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, the Lower Merion Community Mikveh, directed by Carly Chodosh, is the only fully handicap-accessible mikveh<\/em> in the greater Philadelphia area. The mikveh<\/em> was built with the input of Chava Willig Levy, a polio survivor who was a well-known writer, editor, disabilities advocate and motivational speaker. As a result, the mikveh<\/em> has a water-powered hydraulic lift that can be used on Shabbat and yom tov<\/em>. Its fully accessible preparation room isn\u2019t only ADA compliant; it was built to incorporate the same aesthetic as the rest of the building. Its many accommodations include wheelchair-height light switches and attendant\u2019s buzzer, lowered vanity counters and stools, and special benches built for wheelchair transfers in both the bath and the shower. Chodosh has found that giving those with disabilities an advance tour of the special room has led to solutions that make the mikveh<\/em> work for an even larger number of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I have learned is that nothing is more valuable than asking an individual what they will need to ensure the ease and meaning of their visit,\u201d Chodosh says. \u201cIn one instance, we had a deaf woman coming to see the mikveh<\/em>, and it was only during the walk-through that we realized that she had no way to communicate with the attendant over the intercom.\u201d<\/p>\n

A workaround was found, but the lesson endured: Accessibility cannot be one-size-fits-all. True accessibility, say advocates, requires more than isolated features; it demands a shift in mindset\u2014one that begins with listening and continues with constant adjustment.<\/p>\n

As Neifeld puts it, \u201cAccessibility is about more than infrastructure; it\u2019s about culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Top Ways Shuls Can Be More Inclusive<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Mayer<\/em><\/p>\n

Ideally, all shuls should install ramps and accessible bathrooms, ensure access to the <\/em>bimah, and provide designated accessible seating. They should also make braille and large-print <\/em>siddurim and <\/em>Chumashim available.<\/em><\/p>\n

The list below, however, focuses on smaller adjustments that do not require costly renovations or major financial outlay. Even so, these changes can have a meaningful impact, helping all congregants feel more comfortable in shul.<\/em><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Allow for familiarity with the space.<\/strong> Offer tours of the shul to people who are new or visiting, so they can become familiar with the space and find a seat ahead of time where they will be comfortable sitting.<\/p>\n

2. Install clear signage.<\/strong> Make sure congregants are aware of the accessible accommodations and resources available to them in your shul. Post clear picture-based signage around your shul, with braille in addition where possible, indicating the locations of and routes to the accessible accommodations throughout the shul (such as entrances\/exits, accessible bathrooms, accessible seating in the sanctuary, places to park mobility devices if they are not needed full time, and so on). Add all applicable symbols of accessibility to the marketing for your congregation and its events (such as the icons for wheelchair access, assistive listening devices, et cetera).<\/p>\n

3. Offer context.<\/strong> During services, announce page numbers often and display them from the bimah<\/em>, describing the siddur<\/em> or Chumash by color and size, in addition to naming the publisher. Motion times to sit versus stand. Acquire some large-print siddurs<\/em> and transliterated siddurs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4. Create an inclusion committee.<\/strong> Assemble a diverse group of congregants to identify and address any obstacles or concerns about accessibility. Task them with brainstorming and implementing solutions to ensure all congregants feel welcomed, appreciated and included in every aspect of shul programming and services.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Mayer, MSW, is Yachad\u2019s managing director of Communal Engagement.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In This Section<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Accessible To All<\/strong> by JA Staff<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Language of the Soul: Judaism for the Deaf-Blind <\/strong>by Yitzchok Landa<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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