By: DAN VERBIN
Published: December 4th 2009

This week, Bnei Akiva Toronto launched Shevet Yuval, a special needs inclusion program, with a Beit Midrash program for teens and young adults that took place on Monday.

The inclusive study session was very successful, said James Williams, Bnei Akiva’s Shaliach.

The organization opened up their weekly Beith Midrash to teenagers and young adults with special needs ranging from physical disabilities to learning disabilities. The program gave the members of B’nei Akiva the chance to intermingle and learn from community members that were previously excluded from their programming.

In fact, the program was such a success that Bnei Akiva, the world’s largest religious Zionist youth organization with over 400 registered members in Toronto, plans on making the inclusive Beit Midrash a regular event, held once a month.

“In the end, everything was positive about it and we expect for it to happen on a regular basis,” said Williams.

Six or seven special needs children attended. They had different special needs, ranging from physical disabilities to autism. He noted that the session was a great experience for all the kids involved.

While beforehand, there was some apprehension about whether the Beit Midrash could accommodate everyone, afterwards, all involved felt like it had been a wonderful avenue to learn from each other.

The Shevet Yuval – modeled after a similar program in Israel – began when a number of B’nei Akiva families with special needs children approached Williams with the idea of setting up inclusive programming.

Bnei Akiva started by opening up a few spaces at their Camp Moshava for special needs children thanks to UJA funding.

Things progressed from there and B’nei Akiva approached the same families with the idea of starting a Shevet Yuval.

“We thought that there was a need for it in the community,” said Williams.

He added that very few inclusive programs exist in the Orthodox community.

The first inclusive program that B’nei Akiva held was a starter event, a Simchat Beit Hashoeva last Sukkot. When that event proved to be successful, they began to expand the program and the inclusive Beit Midrash was born.

Williams explained that they did not need to make very many changes to how the group normally operates a Beit Midrash.

“We ran it as we would be running normally,” he said.

Instead, they “set the level of learning to the level that the kids with special needs would be able to appreciate and learn from.”

B’nei Akiva will be running a second inclusive special needs program for children with a monthly Shabbat afternoon event in the BAYT for grades 7 to 10. There will also be other inclusive programs, including a Shabbaton.