KOL HADASH . new voIce
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SUMMER 2013 • TAMMUZ/AV/ELUL/TISHREI 5773
Carrying a Backpack of Bricks: An Interview With Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein
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It was like looking at a backpack filled with bricks and suddenly I was able to take the backpack off. I thought it was me. It was not me.”
Yom Ha’atzmaut at BJ
PHOTO: SHAHPAR NILI
From left, Shelley English, her son Jay Siegal, and Amy Schrader drumming at at the BJ celebration of Israel@65. See pages 2-3 for article and more images from the day.
Anne Landsman, one of the members of BJ’s Inclusion Committee, and the mother of a son with dyslexia, talks to Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein about his dyslexia. ANNE: How did you first find out you were dyslexic? MARCELO: I found out that I was dyslexic as an adult. I was at the School of Psychology doing one of the practice tests that you do on kids. The teacher who was administering the test said, “Do you know that you’re dyslexic?” And I said, “Oh, that’s what I am. I thought I was stupid.” It took me back to my childhood, which was very painful for me—all elementary school and the learning of writing in particular. My writing was always untidy. I confused letters and forgot things as well as struggled to pay attention. But there was no language for that when I was a kid. So, when I say I thought I was stupid, I can say this after many years of therapy and suffering. For a long time, I was certain that there really was something wrong with me. Also, I have a brother who has the memory of an elephant and can read something and just repeat it word for word, and was fluent in more than one language as a child. So, if that is normal, I was not normal. Later, when I entered high school, the first year was really painful and I had to get a tutor for a few classes. And I remember I had a meltdown with this tutor who, by the way, was an amazing guy. I told him, “I’m stupid. My mind doesn’t work.” And he told me something that changed my life. I was 13. He said, “You’re not stupid, you’re a coward. You have a wiring problem. You’re afraid of proving how brilliant you are.” And he said, “You’re brilliant, you’re thoughtful, you’re imaginative,” and he began to describe me in a picture that I didn’t recognize. I thought, “He’s got the wrong guy.” He gave me some clues of how to study, how to operate. From then on, I never failed any more classes. But still I didn’t have a diagnosis. The diagnosis came much later, when I was in my 20s. And out of that test that I mentioned before, I was given a real diagnosis. This teacher made an analysis of all the techniques that I had developed as a student to get around my dyslexia, which I had done intuitively without much help. ANNE: Do you remember how you felt when you found out? MARCELO: I felt devastated and relieved and sad and happy. Very mixed feelings because first of all, suddenly I understood. Everything made sense. There was really nothing wrong with me in essence. It was just a wiring problem. So, all the pain of my childhood regarding school came back to me. All the sadness, all the sense of feeling discriminated against, the sense of (continued on page 6)
Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 Inclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9 Board of Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
inside: inclusion issue
Simhat Torah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
BJ Celebrates Israel@65 with the Upper West Side................................................... 2
High Holy Days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
A Special Bar Mitzvah: Thanks From his Mom ........................................................... 4
Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Inclusion: Or Doing the Right Thing............................................................................ 7
BJ Rabbinic Fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The PEARLS Project: Picturing Inclusion.................................................................... 8
Announcements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Introducing Your Simhat Torah Honorees................................................................ 10
Contacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Shalom BJ: A Welcoming Initiative........................................................................... 12
synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org