The Jewish Eye - Links Page: Information for the Jewish Blind and Visually Impaired

Links - Information for the Jewish Blind and Visually Impaired

Organizations for the Jewish Blind and Visually Impaired

Places that loan braille, large print, and audio books

Information on Religious Practices that are of Special Interest for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Miscellaneous Topics of Interest

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Organizations for the Jewish Blind and Visually Impaired

Jewish Blind & Disabled (England)
Care & Campaign Office
164, East End Road
London N2 0RR
Tel.: 020 8883 1000 email: info@jbd.org

The JBD organizition provides housing and care to visually and physically disabled individuals, helping them to live indepent and full lives.
The Jewish Braille Institute of America / JBI International
110 East 30th Street
New York, NY 10016

The Jewish Braille Institute offers a variety of services to Jewish individuals that are blind, visually impaired, or reading disabled. Their efforts span the globe and they try to meet the religious, educational, and cultural needs of those with vision problems. They also operate a lending library offering braille, taped, and large print books.
Jewish Care (England)
Stuart Young House
221 Golders Green Road
London NW11 9DQ
email: info@jcare.org

Jewish Care is a huge, social serivice organiztion that was formed when the Jewish Welfare Board and the Jewish Blind Society merged. Jewish Care offers social, religious, social services, and health related services and activities.
The Jewish Guild for the Blind (US)
15 West 65th Street
New York City, NY 10023-6601
Phone: (212) 769-6200
FAX: (212) 769-6266
Email Address: info@jgb.org

The Jewish Guild for the Blind is a nonsectarian organization that offers a wide range of services to blind, visually impaired, and multihandicapped individuals, such as orientation and mobility training.
Jewish Special Needs (Internet)
From their website: "The Jewish Special Needs discussion group deals with the special issues faced by people with physical, motor, emotional, social, or mental impairments, disorders, limitations, or disabilities."
Center for the Advancement of the Blind, Safed, Israel
P.O.B. 1132,
Safed, 13111, Israel.
E-mail: blind@safedblind.org.il
Phone/Fax: 972-4-692-0445/6

Accorrding to their website... "Our dedicated team of professionals and volunteers develop individualized courses and other activities to meet the skills, needs and interests of visually impaired children and adults, their families and their caregivers." Some of the programs listed on their site include, "Vacations for the blind and visually impaired and their families", "Pre-School Preparatory Programs", and "Ulpanim (Hebrew Language Courses) for New Immigrants".
Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind

From their website: "The mission of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind is to improve the quality of life of blind people by providing them with safe mobility, independence and self-confidence through the faithful assistance of guide dogs."
Jewish Institute for the Blind (Israel)
8 Degel Reuven Street
Kiryat Moshe
P.O.B. 925, 91008
Jerusalem, Israel
Tel: 02-659-9555
Fax: 02-651-2186
E-mail: info@jewishblind.org

From their website: "... the Institute provides a wide range of activities for education, rehabilitation, health and social welfare for the blind and visually impaired in Jerusalem and throughout the country."

Contact in the US:

Jewish Institute for the Blind
15 East 26 Street, Suite 920
New York, NY 10010
Tel: 212-532-4155
Fax: 212-447-7683

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Organizations from which you can borrow braille, large print, and talking books.

Hebrew Books .org

HebrewBooks.org has a free, online library with over 1,000 Sefers written in the early parts of the 20th century. Most of these books are in Hebrew, however some are also in English and Yiddish. They also provide access to over 300 Hebrew periodicals from the same period. Books are scanned copies that are presented in PDF format. Once a file a PDF file is open, you can then enlarge the text for easier reading.
Hebrew Braille at Hebrew Visions .org

Has a growing digital library of books in Hebrew Braille that can be downloaded and then embossed. This is a free service - and they take requests!
The Jewish Guild for the Blind

The Jewish Guild for the Blind is a nonsectarian organization that offers a wide range of services to blind, visually impaired, and multihandicapped individuals, such as orientation and mobility training.
The Jewish Braille Institute of America / JBI International

The Jewish Braille Institute offers a variety of services to Jewish individuals that are blind, visually impaired, or reading disabled. Their efforts span the globe and they try to meet the religious, educational, and cultural needs of those with vision problems. They also operate a lending library offering braille, taped, and large print books.
National Association for Visually Handicapped, (NAVH)

The NAVH is a phenomenal, non-profit, organization that provides a variety of services to individuals with visual impairments. One of their many services is a lending library. Books are sent through the mail, and you can return them to the library at no charge.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped(NLS), is run under the auspices of the Library of congress. Unfortunately, the NLS does not loan large print books, but they do offer a wide selection, currently over 325,000 titles, of audio (talking) and braille books and magazines. In addition to offering these books, free of charge, they also provide the equipment that you need to play the tapes.
To qualify for these services you have to fill out a short application that needs to be signed by someone (librarian, doctor, social worker, etc.) that can attest to your visual impairment. Once you are approved they will begin sending you books/tapes through the mail. When you are finished with a book, you simply return it in the postage-free envelope that they provide. This is a wonderful program and I encourage you to take advantage of it. The application can be found on the NLS website, or, in most cases, you can also get an application at your public library.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic

The Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic organization operates a lending library of recorded material. Tapes are loaned to qualified individuals with print disabilities, such as visual impairments and, learning disabilities. Titles offered are primarily geared towards students from kindergarten through post-graduate studies.

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Information on the Jewish Holidays and Religious Practices of Special Interest for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The Laws of Shabbat Candle Lighting for the Blind

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Miscellaneous Topics of Interest

The Tehilim Hotline

From their website: "The Tehilim Hotline was established by Yeshiva Derech Chaim located in Brooklyn, New York, for the purpose of helping our Jewish brethren through the power of prayer."

You can also participate in this project by reading a specific portion of the Sefer Tehilim on a daily basis. More information about the Hotline, and opportunites to participate in its activities, can be found on their website at: www.tehilimhotline.org

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