Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, a professor of Jewish Studies at Georgetown University, will discuss how a growing awareness of disability liberation can motivate spiritual leaders and others who care for the disabled to think differently about building inclusive communities, on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the second-floor Common Room at Yale Divinity School (YDS).
All members of YDS, Yale, and the greater New Haven community are welcome.
Belser will be at YDS to teach a weekend-intensive course offered by the Divinity School’s Transformational Leadership program. Associate Professor in Georgetown’s Department of Theology, Belser is known for her work in Talmud, rabbinic literature, and Jewish ethics, and for bringing disability culture into conversation with religious tradition.
Before joining the Theology Department at Georgetown, Professor Belser held a research fellowship in Women’s Studies and Religion at Harvard Divinity School and taught in the Religious Studies Department at Missouri State University. She holds leadership positions in the American Academy of Religion and has served on the boards of the Society for Jewish Ethics and Nehirim, a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews and allies.
At the YDS public conversation, Belser will field questions from Associate Dean and Transformational Leadership program director Bill Goettler and from audience members. A reception will follow.
The event will be broadcast on the YDS Livestream channel and available for replay on YouTube.