Dr. Abraham Nemeth - Inventor and Mathematician

One of the highlights of attending Shabbat services at Adat Shalom Synagogue since I was a young child has been talking with Dr. Abe Nemeth. Dr. Nemeth, who passed away yesterday at 94, was a brilliant mathematician and inventor.

Dr. Nemeth was blind since birth, but he invented many technological devices to make his life easier. I recall a Friday night get together at Rabbi Efry Spectre's home during high school when Dr. Nemeth was the guest speaker. He showed the 20 or so teens in the room how he developed a wrist watch that would tell him the time just by touching it. He also showed us the Braille siddur (prayerbook) that he uses.

Dr. Nemeth taught math for 3 decades at the University of Detroit and then started their Computer Science department. In terms of his lasting legacy, his entry in Wikipedia explains that Dr. Nemeth developed "the Braille code that would more effectively handle the kinds of math and science material he was tackling. Ultimately, he developed the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation in 1952. The Nemeth Code has gone through 4 revisions since its initial development, and continues to be widely used today. Nemeth is also responsible for the rules of MathSpeak, a system for orally communicating mathematical text. In the course of his studies, Nemeth found that he needed to make use of sighted readers to read otherwise inaccessible math texts and other materials. Likewise, he needed a method for dictating his math work and other materials for transcription into print. The conventions Nemeth developed for efficiently reading mathematical text out loud have evolved into MathSpeak.

Opening the Doors of Jewish Education

I've been thinking a lot about the term "Opening the Doors" and Jewish education lately. For the past several years I've been a committee member of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's "Opening the Doors Program" which advocates for students with diverse learning or behavioral challenges so they are able to participate in a quality Jewish educational environment with their peers.

Run locally in Michigan through the Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education, the Opening the Doors Program currently empowers nearly 1,000 students. I became involved with the program in 2008 as the director of ATID: Alliance for Teens in Detroit, the Metro Detroit area Conservative Movement's weekly Hebrew High School program. Working with the Opening the Doors director Ellen Maiseloff we were able to place a paraprofessional in our program to ensure that the teens with learning challenges were able to participate in the classes without too many problems.

Detroit's Opening the Doors Program celebrates 18 years of helping Jewish students with learning challenges

Boy With Stutter Raps Adon Olam

I was looking forward to meeting many of the inspirational educators and thought leaders at the #140edu conference in New York City this week, but the one speaker I was really excited to meet was Lil Jaxe.

A few months ago, I watched a video of this 13-year-old boy at a previous #140conf and was amazed, impressed, and inspired. Lil Jaxe has a severe stutter, but he discovered that when he raps it goes away. So, it's a good thing for him that he's a talented rapper. And he's only 13 so I'm predicting that he's got a very successful career ahead of him.

Lil Jaxe presented before me at the #140edu conference today and I had a chance to shmooze with him a bit in the Green Room at the 92nd St. Y after his presentation. Here's the video of our discussion which includes him rapping the Jewish prayer Adon Olam as he did back in April at his bar mitzvah.

Jewish Summer Camp and Customer Service

This Shabbat we read the double Torah portion Mattot-Masei. Last year, I wrote a d'var Torah for this Shabbat extolling the virtues of Jewish summer camp. This year, Jewish summer camp is on my mind again.

On Wednesday night, Rabbi David Krishef, a Conservative rabbi in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did what any father would do. He advocated on behalf of his son. Rabbi Krishef published a long exposé on his blog that detailed what his family had endured over the past few days after being told that his 16-year-old son Solomon, who is blind, would not be able to spend the second part of the summer at camp. The reason the new camp director at Camp Ramah in Canada gave for this decision was that Solomon required more assistance from the camp's staff members than the camp could adequately provide. The bottom line was that the camp could no longer effectively accommodate a camper like Solomon, even though he had spent several successful summers at the camp in previous years.

Photo on  Camp Ramah in Canada's website of Solomon Krishef with a staff member

Rabbi Krishef's blog post went viral. Well, at least in the Jewish community it did. Several people (myself included) posted a link to the blog post on Facebook and watched as dozens of people commented about this travesty and dozens more shared the link on their own Facebook pages. In the end, the camp director reversed his decision welcoming Solomon back to camp, although the 16-year-old blind teen weighed the decision and ultimately determined that after all the commotion he would not return for the remainder of the summer.

Of course there is probably much more to the story than what Rabbi Krishef blogged about. The camp director didn't make his decision in a vacuum and it must have been a difficult decision to come to. But it raises several important issues about summer camp and keeping the publicity about camp positive.

The most important rule about summer camp is that the campers are safe and having fun. Solomon's safety was not compromised. The camp director said the blind teen took too long at meals and in the shower and there wasn't ample staff coverage to assist him. These problems can easily be remedied. Mistakes were clearly made and there was poor "customer service" coming from the camp.


I felt bad sharing Solomon's plight when I posted the link to Rabbi Krishef's blog on my Facebook page because I knew it would have negative consequences for this Ramah camp and the new director. [Full disclosure: In 2005 I served as Rabbi-in-Residence at Camp Ramah in Canada, and my friend was suddenly and unfairly released of his duties as director last year.]

The lesson in this is that every camp director needs to realize what it means to be in the customer service industry. Like any business, camps need to advance and be innovative. The leadership also must recognize the power of social media in the 21st century. Social media reigns king and that means that if a customer isn't happy with their service at Best Buy or Starbucks, they will take their rant to the social networks where it will be "liked," commented on and shared across other networks exponentially. As demonstrated by the angry father of a blind teen with a blog, this is also the case at Jewish summer camp.

Jewish summer camp means Jewish parents. While it may be fair to describe some of these parents as neurotic, the fact remains that all Jewish parents care deeply about the livelihood of their children. That means that they want their children to all feel special, safe and secure while at camp. No parents want to hear that the camp can't accommodate their child for any reason.

Today is the first day of the new month of Av according to the Hebrew calendar. It is the beginning of a period of mourning for the Jewish people as we recall the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In fact, this Hebrew month is often called "Menachem Av" because we desire comfort during this sad period. Camp Ramah in Canada will also require menachem as it deals with this matter internally and externally (a petition was signed by campers and staff appealing to the director to let Solomon stay). 

I'm glad that the camp director reversed his decision and apologized to Solomon and the Krishef family. That was a good resolution. But the lesson has to be learned. In the 21st century, it is not enough for a camp to have a program for special needs children and teens. It must seek to accommodate all children and help them feel safe and happy at camp. Camp directors must lead by example and always seek to do good and to make wise decisions. They must try to always accommodate.


It is often said that a parent is only as happy as his saddest child. So too it is for summer camp directors. Try to keep all your kids as "happy campers" and the camp will be a happy place too.

Shabbat Shalom.

The Shabbat Scooter

Cross-posted to Jewish Techs

The other day I received a call from a reporter at the Detroit News.  She was just about to submit a story about a motorized scooter that can be used by observant Jews on Shabbat, but she wanted a local rabbi's comments first. It was fortuitous that she contacted me since I am already familiar with the Israeli-based Zomet Institute, which partnered with the scooter company, but I have also seen this Sabbath-acceptable scooter in action since I know Michael Balkin, who owns one of these scooters and was interviewed for the article.

(Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News)

It truly is remarkable how modern technology can be used to allow those challenged by a disability to maintain the laws of Shabbat.  The article focuses on Balkin, whose "worsening neurological disorder has made walking more than a few steps nearly impossible." Now, thanks to the "Shabbat Scooter" from Michigan-based Amigo Mobility International, he can get to synagogue on the Sabbath guilt-free.

According to the Detroit News article, Amigo, founded by Allan Thieme, "began making the Shabbat-approved scooters five years ago. It uses a module manufactured in Israel and certified by the Zomet Institute, an Israeli nonprofit that specializes in electronics that meet Halakhah, or Jewish religious law. The scooters, which cost $2,500 to $3,500, are sometimes covered by insurance."

"Scott Chappell, the manager of the Amigo, said the company was approached by the local Orthodox Jewish community for a scooter model that could help homebound individuals to be able to get to the synagogue during Shabbat."

Since the article was published yesterday, I have been inundated with questions on Facebook and Twitter about how this scooter actually operates so that it's "kosher" for use on Shabbat. All agreed that it's great that technology has removed this barrier for observant Jews with disabilities, but they wondered how it works.

The key factor in the scooter's acceptability is the differentiation in Jewish law between a direct and indirect action on Shabbat. For instance, according to the laws of Shabbat, a Jewish person may not intentionally extinguish a flame, but if he opens the window and the wind blows out the flame he has not violated the law. In a 2005 article in the Saginaw News, Rabbi Yisrael Rozen of the Zomet Institute explains the need to apply this leniency. "The law does not allow Jews to intentionally carry out non-Sabbath activities under the principle, but it does provide exceptions for people in dire need. Health is among those needs. While not life-threatening, physical disabilities are a legitimate need that may allow a person to use the principle of indirect action for driving a scooter on the Sabbath."

So, based on this principle, how does the scooter operate? I received an explanation from Mike LaBrake, Amigo Mobility International's director of operations:

There is a Shabbat/Normal switch on the Amigo. It is spring loaded and the toggle lever must be lifted before it can be switched to a different position so the user cannot accidentally switch the Amigo back to Normal mode during the Shabbat period.

Once the switch is activated (and the key switch turned "on"), the software is designed so the start up signal goes through a timing circuit. The timing circuit is where the Gramma principle of an indirect action comes into play, thus the user is not activating the motor circuit directly. Once the timing circuit is complete the Shabbat module will close the motor circuit and the system is programmed so the Amigo "crawls" at a very slow speed without the user touching the throttle lever, we refer to this as "crawl speed". During crawl speed the goal is to be able to stall the Amigo by turning the tiller all the way to the right or left. If the user feels that they are in physical danger at anytime they can depress an emergency brake switch and the Amigo will come to an immediate stop.

Once the Amigo is in the crawl mode, if the user wants to go faster they pull on the throttle lever and the Amigo picks up speed just like normal. I'm told that this action is approved because the user is not opening or closing a motor circuit, they are just modifying the amount of current going through it.

However, the user is not allowed to change direction by pushing the throttle lever in the opposite direction as this would require the motor circuit to switch. Instead the user has to depress the Directional Switch. When this switch is depressed the timing circuit is activated and after a couple seconds the Shabbat module sends a signal and switches the motor circuit so the Amigo runs in the opposite direction.

The Amigo can be turned off when the user reaches their destination because it will again go through the timing circuit when the key switch is turned to the "off" position. The Amigo cannot have its batteries charged during the Shabbat period as this requires a direct action of having to connect the battery charger to the wall outlet. Depending on the Amigo model the Amigo can go 15-30 miles on one charge so they should have enough power for the entire Shabbat period. When the Shabbat period ends the use can switch the Amigo back to Normal mode.

This technology has allowed observant Jews with physical disabilities to be part of a community on Shabbat without a dispensation from a rabbi. As new technological advances come about, we will continue to see how Jewish law evolves as a result.