Devarim Institute

A 501(c)3 coporation specializing in solutions for the Jewish blind and visuall impaired

Hebrew Braille Sefer Torah and many other braille Jewish texts for the blind and visually impaired for free

The Company

Devarim Institute was formed in 2007. It began as a company focused on educational research and development. For the past eight years it has concentrated on providing solutions for participation in religious life of the Jewish blind and visually impaired. We have created a number of free products that will allow the blind and visually impaired Jews to fully participate in their communities.

Projects

This is a list of completed projects:

Project: Chumash – Five Books of Moses – each verse Hebrew without vowels, Hebrew with vowels, transliteration and English translation – refreshable braille – free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Hebrew Braille Torah Scrolls – no cost to borrow, you cover cost of transportation and insurance, however we will supply the transport container

Project: Course that teaches Hebrew braille – Hard bound texts – uses uncontracted English braille to teach Hebrew braille with accompanying text in English and graphics – free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Mishkan Tefila for Shabbat – Reform Prayerbook – refreshable braille – free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Mishkan HaNefesh -Reform Prayerbooks for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – refreshable braille – free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Kol Haneshamah – Reconstructionist Prayer Book – refreshable braille – free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Jewish History Timeline – refreshable braille – from 3800 bce thru 1949 ce - free to blind and visually impaired

Project: Modern Midrashim – 54 short stories based on each of the weekly torah portions – refreshable braille both grade 1 and grade 2, we also have it in wav files – free to blind and visually impaired

People can contact me if they have interest in any of these items.

Torah Gallery

Starts at $150.

What's included in this offer & who is it for? What do they walk away with?

Starts at $500.

Starts at $1000.

Product Details

The Hebrew Braille Sefer Torah

Jewish blind people and those with visual impairments, in the majority of communities, have not been given the opportunity to participate as a reader in a Sefer Torah congregational service. This had been the case for millennia. Although the statement would seem self-evident, the modern invention of Hebrew braille has placed a new context on this topic.

How people with disabilities fit within the Jewish community has been debated for thousands of years. The general view is that the blind and the visually impaired should be considered full members of the community but restrictions applied by to the blind and visually impaired has led to less than full acceptance.

The majority of the customs for the creation of a sefer Torah were promulgated in the eighth century and printed in the text Masekhet Soferim. Braille did not yet exist. Judaism has always adapted the application of its precepts based on context - time and location. Today we have the ability to create a braille Sefer scroll and thereby include this segment of Jews in a congregational Torah reading. This includes those that wish a bar or bat mitzvah or an aliya as part of the weekly synagogue reading.

We have created a kosher braille scroll which meets all major characteristics as defined by previous generations. The cost to create the scroll is quite extensive. It is unlikely that most congregations will fund their own scroll. Devarim Institute has decided to create a number of scrolls and let those that wish around the country to borrow them for their torah reading. You only pay for shipping costs and insurance. We have even supplied a shipping container that can be reused, so you do not need to be concerned about how to ship the scroll back.

In addition we will supply study tools to allow you to practice the portion you will be doing. We will preroll the scroll to the portion you wish and work with you to make this whole process easy and straight forward.

For details about borrowing these scrolls please contact Rabbi Sarko. You find that information on the contact page.

Hebrew Braille Course

There are more than 400,000 blind and/or visually impaired Jewish people in the United States. Although there are many organizations that teach English braille, there are none that teach Hebrew braille that we are aware of.

As an augment to the Hebrew Braille Sefer Torah, a need arose to teach Hebrew braille, so those who are blind or visually impaired can use the scrolls. Devarim Institute has creating a home learning program, that will teach Hebrew braille.

The program allows the learner to go at their own page and learn at home. We will send a set of workbooks. Each set will have a braille version and a text version. The braille version will be in both English and Hebrew braille. The learner will need to know how to read uncontracted English braille to do this course.

We also supply a text version in English and pictures of the material to be learned. In this way a local helper of the student does not need to know Hebrew or Braille.

There is no cost to obtain this course!

For more information please contact Rabbi Sarko.

Refreshable Braille Mishkan Tfilah, Mishkan HaNefesh, Kol HaNeshamah, Jewish Timeline

The Federal government through the National Library System, began a program to provide free refreshable braille devices to the blind and visually impaired. To obtain one you need to contact your local library. The portable device is small, about 3"x 7"x 1" and weighs less than a pound. An entire prayerbook can be placed on it. The device was designed for reading books, line by line. Jewish texts tend to skip around and use multiple languages on one page. Rabbi Sarko took the time to develop computer coding to place onto a refreshable braille file to allow use as it is needed within a service and still have all languages needed. We have placed a num,ber of Jewish text into refreshable braille. Please see the list above.

There is no cost to obtain the Refreshable braille files.

Modern Midrashim

In Modern Midrashim I have taken 54 ethical concepts, one from each portion of the Bible and created short stories using modern settings. As each story is short and unique, you can read comfortably at your own pace and within your own time frame. Some of these stories will make you cry, some will make you laugh, and some will make you think. You will find them delightful and worth your time. They do not preach, or sermonize or advocate a specific religious perspective. Morality is universal. These stories mesh those moralities with our own world. We have this book in both refreshable braille, grade 1 and grade 2 and wav audio files.

There is no cost to obtain Modern Midrashim.

For more information please contact Rabbi Sarko through the contact page.

Contact Page☎️

You can contact Devarim Institute using any of the following methods:

Mail: Devarim Institute, 4034 Great Star Ct., Jeannette, PA 15644

Phone: 724-9630789 (Eastern Time Zone)

email: rabbi@rabbisarko.org

or use the form on this page - Thank you.

Mail: Devarim Institute

4034 Great Star Ct.

Jeannette, PA 15644