TORONTO — Rabbi Joseph Kelman, right, is being honoured this week by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto for almost five decades of work on behalf of people with special needs. The catalyst for his initial foray into the field, however, was as much happenstance as it was his innate optimism.
“It’s a fantastic story,” he said in a recent interview in his study at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue, where he is rabbi emeritus. Fantastic as in unbelievable, not just the kind of story – instructive, a bit humorous – that the rabbi likes to share.
In 1960, when Beth Emeth was a fledgling congregation, a congregant approached Rabbi Kelman to ask whether his developmentally delayed child – in those days they used the term “mentally retarded” – would be able to have a bar mitzvah.
To this day, Rabbi Kelman finds it hard to fathom how little he knew about the issue, having had no experience with special needs children. “You could say I was naive,” he recalled. I said, ‘What are you worried about? We’ll get a private tutor.’”
The father’s initial silence was his first clue that there was more to the issue. But that child and others went on to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs after the rabbi instituted a bar/bat mitzvah program for children with special needs.
When the rabbi learned of another developmentally disabled boy in the neighbourhood, who was attending a non-Jewish camp, he was motivated to start a Jewish program for “retarded” children.
He contacted a downtown school for special needs children to ask for a list of their Jewish students. After being turned down twice, he called a third time to say that he didn’t want to take the school’s students away, but just wanted to start a Sunday school program. “I don’t give up,” he said, his words belying his low-key, affable manner.
“They gave me 20 names. I sent out 20 letters, and 16 came for a meeting.” That was the beginning of Kadimah, a school that provided Judaic and Hebrew education for students with developmental disabilities. “Every Sunday we would sit down and map out a program for the following Sunday,” he recalled of its early days.
A pioneer in the field, Rabbi Kelman developed a conviction early in his career that a person with a handicap is entitled to the same Jewish experience – or a similar one – as anyone else.
He went on to co-found Ezra, a program for students with learning disabilities; the Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School, to educate children with learning disabilities; and Reena, an organization that integrates adults with developmental disabilities into the community.
He chaired the North America-wide committee on special education under the auspices of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism for more than 30 years, and he was instrumental in having developmentally disabled children accepted into Ramah camps as part of a program now called Tikvah.
At the same time, the father of three (now a grandfather of 10), was also involved in prison and hospital chaplaincy, and was tending to the needs of his congregation as it grew from 100 families to more than 1,500 at the time of his retirement in 1997.
Kelman, who turned 80 last April, said he “sheps nachas” from his involvement with the various schools and organizations, using the Yiddish term to describe the pride and pleasure Jewish parents derive from their offspring.
At the synagogue, he still teaches, officiates at some life-cycle events and conducts High Holy Day services for non-members. He is also working on a book that will be partly autobiographical.
A recipient of numerous honours, he has travelled as far as Johannesburg to serve as a consultant on special needs.
This week’s award ceremony, featuring Ontario Lt.-Gov. David Onley as keynote speaker, was scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Joseph E. and Minnie Wagman Centre. The first-time awards, the Community Inclusion Awards of Excellence, are part of the federation’s broader Community Inclusion Initiative.
Rabbi Kelman’s award is for lifetime achievement. Other recipients are Honey and David Levy for hosting an integrated summer camp program and including people with special needs at their Friday night dinners; Chabad Lubavitch’s Friendship Circle, which matches teenage volunteers with children and teens who have special needs; and Camp George for its commitment to inclusion.