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Friday January 29, 1999

`Gabriel's Ark' gives sanctuary to disabled

RONNIE CAPLANE
Bulletin Correspondent

It stormed on the day Gabriel was born. But with his first cry the rain stopped, the sun broke through and a rainbow appeared.

"Everything will be fine," his grandmother said, cradling the newborn in her arms. "The rainbow is a sign of welcome to our new boy."

But everything wasn't fine.

Gabriel had a chromosomal defect.

"Gabriel's Ark," by Berkeley author Sandra R. Curtis, is the story of Gabriel, a child with severe mental and physical disabilities, his family and the problems of a special-needs child. But more than that, it's a story of love, commitment and how there's a place for everyone in Jewish life.

"Traditional Judaism has excluded children and other individuals who have severe disabilities from some ritual practice," says Curtis, whose doctorate in education focused on children with special needs. "The explanation was that people with disabilities were relieved of doing their mitzvot, but the underlying message was one of rejection and exclusion because they were not allowed to participate."

For Curtis, this was a very personal project. It was inspired by close friends, Steve Shatz and Nina Rivkind of Berkeley, who have a severely disabled son named Gabriel. When he turned 13, the family worked with their rabbi, designed a service and celebrated their son's bar mitzvah.

"I used to work with children like this and have a lot of affection for them," says Curtis, who worked as an occupational therapist in the early 1970s. Currently, she's the creative director for Zorro Productions Inc. in Berkeley. She's written seven Zorro novels for young readers.

"Gabriel's Ark," also a book for young readers, is told in the voice of Gabriel's younger sister Leah. Her emotions and reactions are believable. The problems of having a severely disabled brother are not sugar-coated. Although Leah is two years younger, she quickly catches up and passes Gabriel developmentally and mentally, noting that she feels like the older sibling.

There is Leah's anxiety and sadness about Gabriel's placement outside the home so he can attend a special school. And there is her joy when he comes home every Friday for Shabbat. She expresses her frustration as she tries to teach Gabriel the Sh'ma for his bar mitzvah and her embarrassment about Gabriel's tantrums.

But what comes across loud and clear is that Gabriel is a much loved, integral member of his family.

And when it comes time for Gabriel's bar mitzvah, everyone gets into the act.

Since, as Leah tells the fictional Rabbi Cohen, "new things are hard" for Gabriel, the rabbi patiently prepares Gabriel for his big day by familiarizing him with the sanctuary. He even puts a rainbow -- Gabriel's special symbol -- above the ark. The parents prepare to chant Torah, the grandmother to chant haftarah and Leah and her younger sister, Rachel, learn the Sh'ma so they can recite it with Gabriel.

When the big day comes, things don't go exactly according to plan, but Gabriel rises to the occasion and does his bar mitzvah his way.

Although Curtis allows that the actual event of Gabriel's bar mitzvah was a bit more chaotic than is represented in the book, she says that the emotional component is accurate.

Curtis, who chairs the Volunteer Action Committee of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, feels that the message of "Gabriel's Ark" is the importance of including all Jews in lifecycle and other rituals. Although this segment of the Jewish population was ignored for a long time, she sees this trend changing.

Synagogues are widening doorways and adding ramps to make the bimah and other areas accessible to wheelchairs. Special-education teachers are being hired by religious schools and, when necessary, bar and bat mitzvah services are modified to accommodate children with learning disabilities.

"Various movements are looking at inclusion and what that means in terms of adapting practices so everyone can participate," she says. "It strengthens our community and the connections we have to Judaism."

But it was the 8- to 11-year-old audience the author chose to appeal to.

"They don't see the world the same way as adults," she says, adding that mainstreaming children with disabilities benefits everyone. "Children are very sensitive to their own strengths and weaknesses and those of their friends. It there's a kid in the class in a wheelchair, everyone wants to push it. They want to participate."

It's a quality that is often lost in adulthood, a quality which, Curtis says, adults would do well to recapture.

"Gabriel's Ark" is a touching story that challenges readers to examine their beliefs and attitudes about embracing all members of the Jewish community. Although directed at the pre-adolescent set, "Gabriel's Ark" is a book for the whole family.

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