Introduction

Some topics-for example, security crises and religious tensions in Israel, or personal struggles in mitzva observance-are of broad concern.

Others-end-of-life issues, helping the predicament of our community's singles-deal with isolated parts of the population, but could touch anyone. These-both the universal and the particular-are understandably grist for The Jewish Observer's editorial mills.

And then there are issues that may initially strike the reader as someone else's problem (yenemís), but are truly relevant not only to all individual parents, but to the community as a whole. A prime example: children with learning disabilities. This is a problem of a nature-and of proportions-that puts it on top of the agenda of all of Klal Yisroel, truly the next chinuch frontier.

First of all, every child is unique in the manner in which his [or her-to be understood, as we continue] attention is flagged, in how he absorbs and processes information, the degree to which he retains and applies what he has learned. A rebbi or teacher may fashion his lesson to reach the broadest cross-section of the class, and feel that he's extended himself as much as necessary. Yet inevitably, some in the class will miss certain aspects of the lesson. While this was always the case, in recent years, specific emotional and neurological factors have been identified as causes for many learning disabilities that interfere with the learning process of many of our children. These difficulties affect between 15% and 20% of the student population, which constitutes an appreciable proportion of the average classroom. One out of five or six students is actually in need of some sort of remediation-clearly, a population that must be addressed.

If these children could be helped in special remedial sessions outside of the classroom, and are not, this unmet need constitutes an unfair burden on the shoulders of the rebbi, the mora and the teacher. Even if these instructors have the training to deal with children having learning disabilities, it is very likely that they will nonetheless be shortchanging one segment or another of their classes, in terms of time and attention, as they focus exclusive attention on the other group; either the well-functioning children or those in need of special help will be losing out.

In the event the teachers lack this specialized training, the children with disabilities will suffer irreparably, and will likely express their frustrations in a disruptive manner, interfering with the class's progress and doing themselves harm. In addition, normally functioning children will become dismissive of the weaker children, even ridiculing them. When that happens, all children are losers-some in self-respect, others in middos. (Those working with ìchildren at risk' maintain that most of these youths suffered from learning disabilities that were not dealt with in elementary and secondary grades.) This constitutes an enormous cost to Klal Yisroel, both in terms of unrealized potential and calamitous consequences.

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Recognizing the implications of these issues for the community at large, Agudath Israel of America has made a broad commitment to make assistance for children with special learning needs a matter of high communal concern and response. Agudath Israel's two-year-old Project Equal Educational Access, headed by Mr. Eytan Kobre and Mrs. Leah Steinberg, as director and associate director, respectively, has worked to raise public consciousness in the Orthodox community on disability issues through seminars and publications, and has pursued an agenda of both helping to initiate new programs for yeshiva students with special needs and assisting them to access publicly funded services that are already available to them.

Building on Agudath Israel's distinguished record of governmental and legal advocacy, the project has also been active in the courts and within the federal, state and local educational bureaucracies on behalf of the special education interests of yeshiva children. With the articles that follow, the JO is pleased to contribute its pages to joining Agudath Israel in its ongoing efforts to both foster awareness of, and explore and implement responses to, the educational challenges so many of our children face.

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In Unconventional Wisdom,1 a book of 'Torah Perspectives on the Child Who Has Difficulty Learning,' the author, Rabbi Reuven Elkins, interviewed a number of Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbanim, in addition to citing numerous Chazal on the topic. He quotes the late Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld zt' l (Rosh Yeshiva of Shor Yoshuv, in Far Rockaway, NY) on the responsibility of teachers and rebbeim in the contemporary scene.

"Today, every rebbe is involved in hatzalas nefashos (saving lives). It makes no difference where he teaches or with whom he learns. The only way to save a child from the storming winds of our dark society, which are constantly trying to rip him away from his Yiddishe sharashim (Jewish roots), is success in learning."

The rebbe, then, acts as the surrogate parent on behalf of all of us. Where he lacks the expertise or the time to deal with children with special needs, it devolves on the community as a whole to save the child from "the storming winds of our dark society," and to equip him with the skills and confidence to become a G-d-fearing Jew and a productive member of society.

In fact, this very judgment-placing the learning-disabled child on everyone's agenda-is clearly stated by Rabbi Pinchos Scheinberg shlita (Rosh Hayeshiva Torah Ohr, Jerusalem) in response to a question posed by Rabbi Elkins:

How does the Rosh Hayeshiva feel about the responsibility, chiyuv, of the community to help children who are experiencing difficulty?

"It is a communal responsibility, a chiyuv on the b'nei ha'ir (residents of the community). Not only parents, but the b'nei ha'ir must help [to provide and insure that children get the extra help they need]."

The discussions that follow, then, surely concern us all-as teachers, as parents, and as b'nei ha'ir. N.W.

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