The Jewish Calendar on Becoming More Disabled

Below is the sermon Ari gave at Congregation Bet Haverim’s inaugural Disability Pride Shabbat on Friday, July 17, 2026. Please enjoy.

Tisha B’Av begins next Wednesday, July 22, at sundown. This is a day that, historically, has not been good for the Jews. Both the first and second Temples fell on this day; Jews were expelled from England in 1290, as well as from Spain in 1492… and so much more. Tisha B’Av is a day of collective mourning for what was and what could have been. This year, Tisha B’Av is in Disability Pride Month and occurs only days before the 36th (double chai) anniversary of when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed on July 26. Then, in the Jewish calendar at least, Tu B’Av is celebrated, which is regarded as the Jewish day of love. 

I have a friend who says the Jewish calendar is like a crash course in self-help. Just think about the High Holidays season, which some would say begins with Tisha B’Av. Between Tisha B’Av and Simchat Torah (the last holiday of Tishrei), you go from mourning as a community, to individual introspection in Elul, to celebrating the new year with your loved ones on Rosh Hashanah, to personal and communal teshuva during the Days of Awe, to connecting with the earth and the ancestors during Sukkot, to feeling joy as a community on Simchat Torah. 

Now, take this notion that the Jewish calendar is a self-help manual and apply it to the process of becoming disabled. Combining the American calendar and the Jewish one, you are truly on a journey between sundown July 22 and sundown July 29. Often, you may become disabled or become more disabled throughout your lifetime, if you are lucky. There is grief that accompanies this. You mourn what you used to be able to do, you mourn the alternate timelines of yourself that avoided an accident, illness, or genetics, and you mourn the future. Things will never be the same again, though you hope against hope that this is not the truth. These feelings are similar to the feelings we are meant to feel on Tisha B’Av as a Jewish people. Jerusalem has fallen, the Temple has been destroyed, what will become of us now? Both situations might leave you with more questions than answers, and some of the answers you do have are unbearable. 

In the American calendar, up next is the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The passage of this act was hard won and required so much advocacy, discomfort, and dedication from Disability Rights leaders like Judy Heumann. There are developments in Disabled culture at this time period, and due to the repeal of Ugly Laws (which were laws that more or less banned disabled people from being in public), disabled people become a lot more visible. This period could be likened to when the rabbis gathered in diaspora to figure out what came next for the Jewish people if there was no longer a Temple and priests. On the becoming (more) disabled timeline, you might start to recognize that there are communities you still belong to. Maybe it’s an adaptive version of the hobby you loved as a less disabled person. Who is in your inner circle of friends might be different as your abilities and interests change, and that is okay. You figure out the rules of your new body, and keep on rolling along. 

The last commemorative day in this week is Tu B’Av, a holiday of love. You are at the point of your becoming disabled process where you are loving your new community and maybe even learning to love bits of your disability. Look at this new skill you learned in occupational therapy, explore the large print books at your local library, or get jazzed about the accessible features on your laptop that you didn’t know existed until you became more disabled. You still have grief days, especially during flare-ups that suck your energy, but there is more peace between your body and mind. Your life is not over, just different.

Use this next week as an opportunity to go from disabled grief to disabled joy. Feel your feelings, love on your body, and be nourished in your body and your mind. This is what we were meant to do during this time period. And speaking from personal experience, I recommend feeling your feelings before your feelings feel you! So take some deep breaths, and take good care of yourself and your community. This week in the Jewish American calendar may be exactly what you need.