Professor Julia Watts Belser Rethinks Biblical Portrayals of Disability, Wins National Jewish Book Award

Professor Julia Watts Belser has been shaking up the worlds of theology and disability studies with her latest book, Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole. 

The volume, which offers a radical re-reading of both the Talmud and the Bible in light of lived disability experience, recently received the Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award in Contemporary Jewish Life from the Jewish Book Council. 

“People often ask me what religious texts say about disability,” said Watts Belser, a rabbi and a professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. “This book flips that question on its head and asks: ‘What does disability offer to Jewish tradition, to spiritual life and to the practice of building meaningful community?’”

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