Yad Sarah called on the heads of synagogues to make their places of worship
accessible to physically disabled people who have difficulty reaching seats so
they can participate in prayers.
This is especially important during the
High Holidays, the voluntary organization said on Sunday.
Printed
information on how to make synagogues accessible, as well as solutions for the
disabled to reach the raised bima, or altar, for being called to the Torah, as
well as other synagogue facilities, is being provided by Yad Sarah to
synagogues.
RELATED:Social justice for people with disabilitiesA collection of halachic rulings related to people who have
functional problems is also provided.
New synagogues are required by law
to be accessible to the disabled, but older ones can make changes without much
money or effort to retrofit changes as well, the organization said. Handrails,
railings, ramps and printing prayer books in large print can all be
provided.
It is not doing the disabled a favor, said Yad Sarah, but
meeting a basic obligation for the whole community.
“Maimonides wrote
that the Hebrew word for charity [tzedaka] comes from the word for justice
[tzedek]. Justice is to meet the needs of everyone who has a right and give him
what he deserves. There is no doubt that it is the right of every Jew to get to
a synagogue and pray,” said Moshe Cohen, director of branches and services at
Yad Sarah.