{"id":467915,"date":"2020-04-12T05:33:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T12:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?p=467915"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:19:32","slug":"ep-74a-coronavirus-and-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2020\/04\/12\/ep-74a-coronavirus-and-spirituality\/","title":{"rendered":"Ep 74a: Coronavirus and Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_2435\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-467915-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?powerpress_pinw=467915-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3\">Download<\/a> | <a href=\"#\" class=\"powerpress_link_e\" title=\"Embed\" onclick=\"return powerpress_show_embed('467915-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Embed<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_embed_box\" id=\"powerpress_embed_467915-podcast\" style=\"display: none;\"><input id=\"powerpress_embed_467915-podcast_t\" type=\"text\" value=\"&lt;iframe width=&quot;320&quot; height=&quot;30&quot; src=&quot;https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?powerpress_embed=467915-podcast&amp;amp;powerpress_player=mediaelement-audio&quot; title=&quot;Blubrry Podcast Player&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot;&gt;&lt;\/iframe&gt;\" onclick=\"javascript: this.select();\" onfocus=\"javascript: this.select();\" style=\"width: 70%;\" readOnly><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/disability-visibility\/id1282878324\u00a0?mt=2&amp;ls=1#episodeGuid=https%3A%2F%2Fdisabilityvisibilityproject.com%2F%3Fp%3D467915\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_itunes\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Apple Podcasts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribebyemail.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe by Email\" rel=\"nofollow\">Email<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today\u2019s episode is about the coronavirus and spirituality with Elliot Kukla, a rabbi at the <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishhealingcenter.org\/\">Bay Area Jewish Healing Center<\/a> in San Francisco where he has provided spiritual care to those who are dying, ill, or bereaved since 2008. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I got a chance to talk with Elliot about a recent essay he wrote for The New York Times titled <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/19\/opinion\/coronavirus-disabled-health-care.html\">\u201cMy Life Is More \u2018Disposable\u2019 During This Pandemic.<\/a>\u201d Elliot is grateful to his partner Abby Weintraub for her care and collaboration that makes all his work possible. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please note there will be discussions of genocide, the Holocaust, eugenics, and intergenerational trauma.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Transcript<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1XM7SIRFay7RH6lOdlY4IU6j2TWLWSjd7mFgrpT1jZbI\/edit?usp=sharing\"><strong>[Google doc]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Coronavirus-and-Spirituality.pdf\"><strong>[PDF]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Related Links<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jweekly.com\/2020\/04\/01\/disability-during-a-pandemic-why-you-should-put-a-spoon-on-your-seder-plate-this-year\/\">Disability during a pandemic: Why you should put a spoon on your seder plate this year<\/a>, Elliot Kukla, April 1, 2020, The Jewish News of Northern California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"cover-title atavist-cover-font-sans-serif atavist-cover-h1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org\/holiness-of-being-broken\">The Holiness of Being Broken: Trauma and Disability Justice<\/a>, Elliot Kukla, 2020, Evolve.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/01\/10\/opinion\/in-my-chronic-illness-i-found-a-deeper-meaning.html\">In My Chronic Illness, I Found a Deeper Meaning<\/a>, Elliot Kukla, January 10, 2018, The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tikkun.org\/33048\">Learning to Be Sick<\/a>, Elliot Kukla, January 12, 2018, Tikkun.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>About<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_467914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467914\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"467914\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2020\/04\/12\/ep-74a-coronavirus-and-spirituality\/elliot-12-14-19\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1280\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"elliot 12.14.19\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;A white non-binary person smiles with trees and green plants in the background. &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-467914\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=500%2C333&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A white non-binary person smiles with trees and green plants in the background.\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?resize=1800%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-467914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A white non-binary person smiles with trees and green plants in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>Elliot Kukla<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a rabbi at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center in San Francisco where he has provided spiritual care to those who are dying, ill, or bereaved since 2008. His articles on spiritual care, illness, and healing, are published widely including in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2006 he was the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained by a mainstream movement in Judaism (Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles).\u00a0 In 2007 he co-founded <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transtorah.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www.transtorah.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to help people of all genders access Jewish tradition. His prayers and essays on gender diversity in Judaism have received international media coverage including in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Post <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Geographic<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is also chronically ill and a disability activist. He writes and paints about the intersections between disability, justice, and spirituality, and is an artist with the Disability Justice project <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty in the face of Invisibility<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In recent years, he has increasingly been focused on offering spiritual care to frontline disabled and sick communities struggling with the impacts of planetary crisis. In 2019 he was named one of the 50 most intriguing and influential Jews of the year by the Forward.\u00a0 He lives in Oakland, CA with his partner, their child, two Boston Terriers and a cat named Turkey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Support Disability Media and Culture<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/donate\/\"><b>DONATE<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0to the Disability Visibility Project\u00ae<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Credits<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SFdirewolf\">Alice Wong<\/a>, Writer, Audio Producer, Host<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WhoAmIToStopIt\">Cheryl Green<\/a>, Text Transcript<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kut2smooth\">Lateef McLeod<\/a>, Introduction<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeeMort\">Mike Mort<\/a>, Artwork<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Theme Music (used with permission of artist)<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Song:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N02wZiX7jso\">\u201cDance Off\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Artist:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wheelchairsportscamp.bandcamp.com\/\">Wheelchair Sports Camp<\/a><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Music<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/freesound.org\/people\/tyballer92\/sounds\/449812\/#\"><b>Acoustic Guitar and Keys &#8211; Plains Soundtrack<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freesound.org\/people\/tyballer92\/\"><b>tyballer92<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, December 1st, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><b>Sounds<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/freesound.org\/people\/Jack_Master\/sounds\/248096\/\">\u201cVOCODER countdown\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by Jack_Master.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/freesound.org\/people\/sheepfilms\/sounds\/153583\/#\">8 Bit Beeping Computer Sounds<\/a>\u201d by sheepfilms.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3Podcast\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/content.blubrry.com\/disability_visibility\/74a_FINAL_VERSION.mp3Podcast<\/a>: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS&nbsp; Today\u2019s episode is about the coronavirus and spirituality with Elliot Kukla, a rabbi at the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2020\/04\/12\/ep-74a-coronavirus-and-spirituality\/\" class=\"read-more\">Continue Reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ep 74a: Coronavirus and Spirituality<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":467914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[587152318],"tags":[159346,335421,587152716,587152846,587152867,106167760,11795,587152715,15949,75990,587152868,587152865,587152866,587152718,1494,587152352,34714],"class_list":["post-467915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-ableism","tag-chronic-illness","tag-communities-of-faith","tag-coronavirus","tag-disabled-rabbis","tag-disabled-writers","tag-eugenics","tag-faith-communities","tag-genocide","tag-holocaust","tag-intergenerational-trauma","tag-judaism","tag-rabbi","tag-religion","tag-spirituality","tag-transgender-disabled-people","tag-trauma","post-has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/elliot-12.14.19.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4H7t1-1XJ1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}