[NFBJ] Scribes interested in learning about blindness

Fri Aug 21 23:00:56 UTC 2026

Halacha is even now dealing with things that didn't exist even twent y years ago.  Gene editing.  Non-alive material that has been enhanced to act like it is alive.  Cber-bullying.   Self-administered assisted suicide.  AI-generated images that make it look like Taylor Swift is in favor of Trump.

We are the people of the Book.
The people of the Bible AS CONSTANTLY INTERPRETED BY THE Oral Law.

But there were, are, and always will be interpreter who are super-cool and say "Wosship other gods."  The god of money.  The god of unbridled desire.  The god of self-aggrandisement.  The god who usurps the rule of law.

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBJ <nfbj-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Síle Ekaterin Liszka via NFBJ
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2026 12:06 PM
To: NFB in Judaism <nfbj at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Síle Ekaterin Liszka <sheila at vulpine.house>
Subject: Re: [NFBJ] Scribes interested in learning about blindness

Leyning from a sefer Torah rather than a chumash is to the honour of the congregation (kavod hatzibbur), not halachically required. This means that any congregation may choose that it is to the honour of the congregation that a blind Jew may leyn from a Braille chumash, including one provided by a refreshable Braille display if that is the option available.

It is also worth considering that halacha makes allowances for other disabilities, e.g.  an incontinent person may daven if there is no excrement present. That it does not make allowances for blind people in this instance is because Braille did not exist until the 19th century CE, centuries after halacha was redacted.

--
Mx Síle Ekaterin Liszka; fae/faer, they/them, she/her

> On Aug 19, 2026, at 17:05, Leye-Shprintse Teller via NFBJ <nfbj at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I just want to add that according to halacha a sefer Torah with braille would not be kosher. We need to live according to G-d’s Torah both written and oral Torah not according to our feelings. It would not possible for a blind man to lein from the sefer Torah. We are serving Hashem the way he intended. There is some reason He created a person blind or sighted. It is all for good. 
> Reuven Yitzchok & Leye-Shprintse Teller Brooklyn (N.Y.), U.S.
> rylst at icloud.om
> leyeshprintse at icloud.com
> 
> Sent From Our iPhone 14
> 
>> On Aug 19, 2026, at 5:16 PM, Rabbi Lenny Sarko via NFBJ <nfbj at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> David,
>> 
>> There are no trope signs in a sefer torah.  A sefer torah, with a scribe or braille, costs in the order of $75,000.  No synagogue is going to fund this for one or two people.  It is why I developed the way for people to borrow the scroll when they wish to use it.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Rabbi Lenny
>> 
>>> On 2026-08-18 12:30, Daveed Mandell via NFBJ wrote:
>>> 
>>> About another approach, which I know is controversial: What if we could read from the Torah with braille text, while someone such as the Gabbai, pointered with the Yad to every word as we read? Could this be a stop gap approach, until we are able to obtain a braille Torah scrol? Rabbi Lenny has only produced a few Sifrei Torah, as wonderful as they are. I would like to see one, but I'm on the West Coast. To borrow a Torah scroll for two weeks is good as far as it goes, but we need to be able to obtain braille Sifrei Torah for permanent retention. That is going to be a huge problem, because they are not considered kosher, and mass producing them would be unlawful. I would love to see one, to get my hands on it, to actually read from it.
>>> Another problem is Braille trope signs.
>>> Does anybody have any information on them? I have heard that Duxbury contains Braille Trope signs in its Biblical Hebrew Braille code. Is that true? I've been trying to find out about Braille Trope signs for years. When I had my Bar Mitzvah, I made up my own Braille trope code. It worked. I just did so again for a recent Haftarah that I chanted.
>>> Yes, all this is interesting and exciting!
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> On Aug 18, 2026, at 7:42 AM, mlevy--- via NFBJ <nfbj at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Can I contact "these gentlemen" on my own?
>>> Thank you.
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: NFBJ <nfbj-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Rachael D Hudson 
>>> via NFBJ
>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2026 10:19 AM
>>> To: Daveed Mandell <daveedmandell at gmail.com>; in Judaism NFB 
>>> <nfbj at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Rachael D Hudson <hudson.rachaeld at gmail.com>; nfbj at nfbnet.org
>>> Subject: Re: [NFBJ] Scribes interested in learning about blindness 
>>> good morning, It's very interesting to me as well.  I personally 
>>> like Rabbi Lenny's approach using just the braille itself..  I will 
>>> definitely be wanting to ask these gentlemen questions of my own… For instance, we don't touch the Taurus role because we don't want to smudge the letters - especially the Divine name!  G-D forbid!  So I'm very curious about their plans and look forward to learning more from them.  I also greatly value Rabbi Lenny Sarko's input on this discussion and on any meeting we might schedule with the group here.
>>> -Rachael Everhart Hudson (She/Her)
>>> 267-268-5780
>>> "Do the hard things while they are still easy... The journey of a 
>>> thousand miles begins with a single step."  -Lao Tzu 
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Daveed Mandell <daveedmandell at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, 18 August 2026 10:13:08
>>> To: in Judaism NFB <nfbj at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Rachael D Hudson <hudson.rachaeld at gmail.com>; nfbj at nfbnet.org 
>>> <nfbj at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [NFBJ] Scribes interested in learning about blindness
>>> Shalom:
>>> This is very exciting! Torah reading is something I have longed to do all my life. I was just recently thinking about a Torah with both print and Braille. Wouldn't that be something? By the way, does anyone have information on Braille trope signs for both Torah and Haftarah chanting?
>>> Kol tuv,
>>> Daveed
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> On Aug 17, 2026, at 4:32 PM, Rachael D Hudson via NFBJ <nfbj at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Shalom y'all,
>>> A friend recently met a group of scribes at a maker space in Minnesota. He connected them with me in the hopes that I could pass them on to this group to help begin facilitating conversation.   It's my understanding that these are orthodox or ultra orthodox scribes who are inspired by Rabbi Lenny's approach to a braille Torres scroll, but want to create something with the traditionally prescribed in and so on.  It is their hope that we can also perhaps put together a call in which they can learn from users of Hebrew Braille… Obviously, sometime after the high holidays.
>>> I agreed to send their message (below) A new project is exploring 
>>> the creation of sacred Jewish texts that combine traditional 
>>> handwritten Hebrew with Hebrew Braille, beginning with a prototype 
>>> Megillat Esther and working towards a complete, kosher Torah scroll 
>>> with Braille. The goal is to make communal ritual texts more 
>>> accessible to blind Jews while preserving the rigorous requirements 
>>> of Jewish scribal tradition. The project is feedback and suggestions 
>>> from the blind community to help shape the work, which is being 
>>> developed through the Kedusha Project: www.thekedushaproject.org 
>>> [1]<http://www.thekedushaproject.org><http://www.thekedushaproject.o
>>> rg<http://www.thekedushaproject.org>>
>>> -Rachael Everhart Hudson (She/Her)
>>> 267-268-5780
>>> "Do the hard things while they are still easy... The journey of a 
>>> thousand miles begins with a single step."  -Lao Tzu 
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>> 
>> 
>> Links:
>> ------
>> [1] http://www.thekedushaproject.org
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