Moses: Provocations from a Disabled Prophet, with Rabbi Julia Watts Belser 

Click here to register for this free virtual event, co-presented by New Lehrhaus.

When God sends Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery, the prophet famously says no. Why?  Moses describes himself as “slow of speech and slow of tongue”—in other words, a stutterer. While some commentators treat Moses’ speech disability as a spiritual impediment, this talk and text study brings Moses’ story into conversation with the life experiences and activism of contemporary disability communities.  Participants will grapple with spiritual and political questions about access and equity, invisibility and silence, as well as practices for transforming social inequality and shame in order to illuminate the provocative power of spiritual leadership that centers disability wisdom.

This event will feature live CART captioning.

Rabbi Julia Watts Belser (she/her) is a scholar, spiritual teacher, and longtime activist for disability, LGBTQ, and gender justice. She is a professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University and core faculty in Georgetown’s Disability Studies Program. She’s also an avid wheelchair hiker, a devoted gardener, and a lover of wild places. Her latest book is Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole.