Our Inclusive Community

Resources for Interfaith Households
 

• If I would like to discuss what activities I can participate in at Har Shalom, as a non-Jewish partner or spouse, whom should I contact?
  • Our clergy are pleased to discuss any questions that you have, please Ask the Rabbi.
• Can you recommend any books or websites, or local or national organizations that can provide helpful information to interfaith households?
  • Our clergy are pleased to direct you to additional resources related to your specific interests. The following is an initial list of resources which provides a good starting point.
  • As you will understand, although we identify these organizations as a resource for learning, information and opinions found on external web sites may not represent the views of Congregation Har Shalom or its members.
• Interfaith Community – www.interfaithfamily.com
• Jewish Social Service Agency – www.jssa.org
• What are the halakhic limitations that apply to a non-Jewish spouse or partner?
  • When it comes to the participation of non-Jewish spouses or partners in Synagogue life there are three areas of limitations:
    • Participation in services. There are many opportunities for non-Jewish spouses or partners to participate in important family milestones such as baby namings and b’nai mitzvah, and they can have a reading role during Shabbat services. At the same time, there are also some halakhic constraints. In accordance with the rules of the Conservative Movement, with which Har Shalom is affiliated, a non-Jewish spouse or partner may not have Torah-related honors, nor recite blessings.
    • In what ways can a non-Jewish spouse or partner participate in the life-cycle events of my family?
      • Honors are often awarded to people celebrating a life-cycle event. These events involve a core family as well as the community at large. We wish to have every member of the core family share in the joy. In these situations, such as a birth or a b’nai mitzvah, the non-Jewish family member often accompanies the Jewish family member to the Torah (following the blessings), as someone who enables this moment of joy to take place. While the Jewish family member recites the covenantal blessings, the non-Jewish family member is very much part of the occasion.  
      • Har Shalom also creates opportunities in the service that are not strictly Jewish ritual. These may include readings, the presentation of a tallit to a child, or saying some words to the child that do not have covenantal significance.

Let us bless the Source of life in its infinite variety,
that creates all of us whole, none of us perfect.
Judith Glass

Our Mission: To help ensure that Har Shalom welcomes and offers support to all congregants with disabilities by striving to eliminate all barriers, whether structural, communicative, or attitudinal, so that those with disabilities may experience the full richness of synagogue life.

This is the perfect Committee to join if you would like to devote some time and energy to helping to ensure that the lives of those with disabilities are as satisfying, meaningful, and productive as they can be, especially by living Jewishly as part of the Har Shalom community!

Since Har Shalom’s inception in 1964, this community has been all about community, about belonging, about family, about inclusion. Each and every one of us always strives to ensure that our neighbors and fellow congregants feel like true members of Har Shalom – and we do this is a myriad of ways. Congregants serve as docents to welcome worshippers to high holiday services, our membership committee engages in outreach to new congregants, the Hesed committee perform acts of love and kindness, Har Shalom Sherman Early Childhood Center supports programing with young families… this is only a small fraction of what this community does.

One way we further this mission to include is through the Accessibility and Inclusion Committee (A&I). To be clear, informal inclusion activities started long before that. A group of concerned parents, including Margie Glantz (a current A&I Committee member), started one of the nation’s first religious school programs for students with disabilities in the 1980s. While our community has always been committed to including all members, including those with disabilities, our targeted activities have ebbed and flowed over the years. Most recently, Sara Fink, Director of Religious School, rejuvenated our education commitment to students with disabilities in 2023 with the recreation of an inclusion program for the Religious School, which currently serves many students with disabilities and allows mutual learning and support with student allies. Our A&I Committee has also been a long-time sponsor of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) shabbat, which brings in a speaker to highlight a topic relating to Judaism and disability rights—and in February 2025, we welcomed speaker, David Ervin, CEO of Makom, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the independence, dignity, choice and community inclusion of individuals with disabilities. 

For the first time, in November 2024, the Committee also hosted the congregation’s first ever “Inclusion Kabbalat Shabbat” – a shortened music-forward service where congregants with disabilities of all ages, from young children, to young adults, to adults living in Makom homes, were able to enjoy a shortened music-forward service. Many times, the length and text-heavy religious service can be inaccessible to individuals with disabilities, and the committee worked closely with clergy to design a shortened music forward service with a special simplified image focused siddur. That first service was followed by a small group dinner where Makom residents, members of our community with disabilities and their families, and select allies enjoyed a meal together in a low-stimulus environment. This was followed up by another Inclusion Kabbalat Shabbat Service in May 2025 and the Committee plans to continue to offer this consciously accessible service more regularly for all congregants.

The various items described above are only some of what we can do to make our community a more inclusive place for all of us. If you’re interested in supporting these efforts, please reach out Eva Rigamonti or Jen Sussman at inclusion@harshalom.org to join the Committee, share feedback, and to provide ideas for how to make 2026 an even more inclusive year for Har Shalom.

How often do we meet? The Committee meets as a whole approximately 4-6 times a year in person or via Zoom, with email communication in the interim. But as JDAAIM approaches each February, those committee members who wish to be specifically involved in that endeavor may meet weekly or more.