Rewarding innovation

The Ruderman Family Foundation awards organizations that help the disabled.

By JOSH HASTEN
Rewarding innovation (photo credit: Courtesy: Avi Masfin)
Rewarding innovation
(photo credit: Courtesy: Avi Masfin)
Did you realize that one in every five Israelis is considered disabled, making them the largest minority population in the country?’ The question is asked by Jay Ruderman, the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, during a telephone interview from his Rehovot home following the announcement in June of the 10 winners of the inaugural Ruderman Prize in Disability. The prize bestowed upon organizations for fostering the full inclusion of people with disabilities in Jewish communities around the globe.
The four Israeli winners among the 170 applicants are Akim Israel – the National Association for the Habilitation of Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities; Shalva – the Association for Mentally & Physically Challenged Children in Israel; the Vertigo Dance Company; and the Reishit School in Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim.
According to Ruderman, he and his wife, Shira, who serves as the foundation’s Israel director, decided to create the annual award as a means to “advocate for the disabled members of the Jewish community and to shine a light on some very interesting programs.” He adds, “This was an opportunity to say ‘hey’ to society, ‘take a look at these programs, because they are important to you also.’” Ruderman, who made aliya with his family from Boston in 2005, says that the foundation was founded in 2001 with the mission of “providing access and quality Jewish education to Jewish children in day schools in the Boston area.” The Rudermans asked themselves, “Why are some children provided with more opportunities while those who have disabilities are shut out?” It was then that the foundation began to focus on promoting the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the Jewish community through meaningful programs and public awareness.
“The idea of the prize,” says Ruderman, “was to put a call out there and see what innovations already exist which help integrate people with disabilities into society. We did this in a public manner in order to draw attention to their important work and to recognize their accomplishments. The award was a financial gift of $200,000 [divided equally between the 10 organizations] to a diverse group of organizations, with four being in Israel, three in the US, and one each in Mexico, England and Russia.”
Ruderman stresses that his foundation strives to work via partnerships with groups already embedded in the field of philanthropy, such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, to gain an expert assessment on how to best to distribute the $5 million the foundation grants annually to worthy causes.
In addition to working with organizations that service the disabled Jewish community, the foundation is committed to building a stronger relationship between Israel and the US Jewish community. An initiative called the Ruderman Fellows Program, in conjunction with Brandeis University, has over the past two years brought a diverse group of members of Knesset to the US for an intensive week of meetings and briefings in Boston and New York with leaders of the American Jewish Community. The purpose is for the MKs to engage with and to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the American Jewish community and to discuss issues affecting both populations along with trends affecting the entire Jewish world.
Avi Maskim, the spokesperson for Akim Israel, is grateful his organization was recognized for its program, Shavim B’Madim (“equality in uniform”), which over the past three years has been working to enable people with developmental disabilities to serve in significant and productive roles in the Israel Defense Forces.
Maskim says that while, in the past, soldiers with disabilities were limited to volunteer work, thanks to his organization “individuals with disabilities are drafted as full-fledged soldiers with benefits and contribute to the state like everyone else in a variety of capacities.”
He says he is thankful that the Ruderman Family created the prize and that “they truly understand that people with disabilities can contribute to society.”
Shalva, another award winner, was recognized for a special interview project in which it joined forces with the Ynet news agency to provide the public with a series of high-profile, attitude-altering interviews of famous people conducted by two adults with disabilities.
According to Shalva’s director of advocacy and awareness, Asaf Finkelstein, the two interviewed “prominent artists, musicians, models and even politicians, including President [Shimon] Peres and Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu.” Finkelstein says that since studies show that about 50 percent of Israelis are unwilling to or uncomfortable about interacting with children with disabilities, the interviews were important to educate the public that when they become adults, the disabled can become integrated in society.
Kalman Samuels, who is the director of Shalva and co-founded the organization with his wife, Malki, says that he views receiving the award as “a great confidencebuilder.”
He adds, “I am humbled by the Ruderman prize. I know all about the incredible role the foundation has in building partnerships with others to do great things for the disabled. Our organization does amazing work with 450 disabled children, so it is always nice to be validated.”
The internationally-acclaimed Vertigo Dance Company, with centers in Jerusalem and in the Eila Valley, received the award for “The Power of Balance,” a program in which professional dancers work with those with disabilities to develop a new, innovative language of movement. The organization states that the program has been an effective tool in fighting against discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices that have limited the inclusion of those with disabilities into society.
ADI SHA’AL, the CEO and co-artistic director of Vertigo, says that “since the year 2000, hundreds of people have gone through the program, which often pairs dancers in wheelchairs with those who have full use of their bodies, allowing them to use dance as a language of selfexpression.”
He adds that through the partnership, “both individuals come away learning from each other.” Sha’al thanks the Ruderman Foundation for the award and says that the funding will be used to continue to advance the “Power of Balance” program.
The final recipient of the prize is the Reishit School, located in Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, which is the only school in Israel with children from grades 1 through 8 that fully includes pupils with disabilities within a regular school setting. The school won the award for a special program that promotes inclusion through environmental awareness activities. The program allows all pupils to interact via experiential, hands-on activities that promote awareness and an appreciation of the natural environment.
According to Sarah Weinreb, the school’s director of development, “Reishit is unique in that the school teaches tolerance between children from a young age, since all children [both with and without special needs] are together in class not only physically, but are involved socially and emotionally together in the classroom.
Further,” she explains, “we don’t teach tolerance, but it’s something that’s built into your daily schedule.”
Weinreb says that she has two children who attend the school, one of whom has special needs, and she sees first-hand how, through the school’s structure, “which places a great emphasis on outdoor activities and hands-on learning as opposed to only passive classroom learning, all types of children are interacting together at every moment.”
The most important element of receiving the Ruderman Foundation award, according to Weinreb, is the opportunity to recognize and thank the institution’s “hard-working staff who for the past 11 years, since the school was founded, are truly bringing about ‘tikkun olam’ [perfection of the world].”
According to Ruderman, the four Israeli winners, along with the other six, “offer a vision of a world with full inclusion, where people with disabilities have the same opportunities for employment, education, religion and enjoyment of their communities as those without disabilities. These grants will nourish and nurture that vision.”
The foundation is already anticipating receiving next year’s applications for the prize to learn how organizations around the world are truly helping with integration of the disabled within the Jewish community.