I have only recently become aware of the Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month, thanks to this piece--a guest column posted in the Cleveland Jewish News and written by Jay Leberman. In the course of his piece, which argues for replacement of the word "inclusion" (which suggests the possibility of "exclusion") with the more suitable term "belonging", he writes:
Ben Azzai taught in the “Ethics of the Fathers,” “Do not disdain any person; do not underestimate the importance of anything – for there is no person who does not have his hour, and there is no thing without its place in the sun.” Although we dedicate the month of February to a greater awareness of people who are different than us – our sacred texts provide us with an imperative to recognize the uniqueness of every individual, regardless of mental ability and or physical limitations throughout the year. We are given the challenge as a community to ensure that those among us who are different are never neglected, never sidelined, never underrated, and never underappreciated as human beings capable of giving back to our community in their own individualized ways.
This blog has sometimes commented on the inappropriate use of mishnayot from Avot in the columns of both Jewish and non-Jewish publications. Here, however, it is good to be able to welcome a citation of Ben Azzai's teaching (at Avot 4:3) which seems entirely apt.
One quick question remains: does any reader know where the translation of Avot containing the words "under the sun" comes from? These words are not in the original Hebrew and I wonder if they have been "borrowed" from Ecclesiastes (Kohelet), where they appear on several occasions.
