"I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that."

-          Woody Guthrie

Our world is full of ways for us to feel left out; that we don't fit in - "too this or too that."

Among the reasons people gravitate to Jewish community is because they feel safe, comfortable, accepted. Our tradition holds that each of us is created b'tzelem elohim, in the image of God. From this, one might imagine that we, who follow this tradition, would see the spark of the divine in each of us and from this would flow a spirit of inclusion, of acceptance, and even a celebration of our differences as diverse manifestations of that divine spark.

This is Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month, and we at BJE are aware that our community is not quite as inclusive as we think. Despite great progress, we have a ways to go before we can say that access to Jewish life and learning is open to all learners, regardless of their learning styles. It would be easy to think that the only barriers to inclusion involve physical disabilities or learning challenges. I believe that we are more insular than we think; less welcoming, and less forgiving of diversity.

Every Shabbat, someone somewhere walks into a Jewish house of worship and feels "too this or too that." Perhaps they have a physical disability in an unforgiving facility. Perhaps they are Sephardi in an Ashkenazi congregation. Or maybe a Jew of color, or LGBT, or they feel not sufficiently affluent, or simply not sufficiently knowledgeable to know what is going on. They leave feeling awkward, uncomfortable, perhaps judged.

If you gravitate to Jewish community to feel safe and accepted, and instead feel "too this or too that;" if you seek elevation and instead feel diminished - why stay?

We don't purposely make people feel left out. Good intentions, however, are not enough. Our community has, over thousands of years, developed habits of insularity. Those habits have, at times, served us well. And they have come with a price.

We would do well to replace some habits of insularity with habits of inclusivity. It begins with a renewed and deepened understanding of b'tzelem elohim. That means accepting and celebrating the kaleidoscopic diversity that comprises "being Jewish" and tossing aside so many of the assumptions and judgments that separate and diminish us.

"Teach each child according to her way," Proverbs instructs us. Each of us learns in our own way, and connects to the tradition in our own way. We must figure out how we can create and present a community that is welcoming, accessible to each individual created in God's image.