In recent decades, record numbers of Jews are taking a newfound interest in their legal heritage - the Bible and the Talmud, the law codes and the rabbinical responsa literature. In the course of this encounter, they may be interested in how these sources relate to the issue of disability, and the degree to which halakhic attitudes to disability are in harmony with contemporary sensibilities. For example, can the blind or those in wheelchairs serve as prayer leaders? Need the mentally incompetent observe any ritual law? Is institutionalization in a special-education facility where Jewish dietary laws are not observed permitted if it will enhance a child's functioning? And how are we to interpret teachings that seem inconsonant with current sensibilities?
Disability in Jewish Law answers the pressing need for insight into the position of Jewish law with respect to the rights and status of those with physical and mental impairments, and the corresponding duties of the non-disabled.
1. Introduction
2. Moral Imperatives Governing Disability
3. Extra-Halakhic Sources: Biblical Narratives and Rabbinic Aggada
4. Guidelines from Charity
5. Laws on Relating to the Disabled
6. Categories of Disability
7. Elemental Dignity
8. Observances Related to Liturgy
9. Non-Verbal Observances
10. Preparatory Observances and Technological Aids
11. Conclusion
Biography
Tzvi C. Marx
'A welcome addition to recent monographs on sundry topics in Jewish law.' - Religion, Thought, and Education
'Overall, it is refreshing to read a book that is substantially a legal treatise but that integrates aggadah and Jewish thought as part of the legal process or, at least, as part of the legal-cultural background. It is doubly refreshing to encounter the passion of the author, his love for the Jewish tradition, and his usually successful attempt to help us understand the halakhic mindset concerning the disabled. Even if the halakhah itself occasionally seems disabled in the eyes of the author, his love for the tradition conquers all.' - Religion, Thought, and Education
