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Elie Klein

Elie Klein is the North American director of development for ADI (adi-israel.org), Israel’s network of specialized rehabilitative care for those touched by and living with disability, and an international advocate for disability inclusion, equity and access.

Pomegranates in Kibbutz Hulda in central Israel, Sept. 22, 2022. Photo by Mendy Hechtman/Flash90.

On pomegranates and human potential

All people can blossom and bear fruit if they are shown lots of love, and given the tools and opportunities they need to draw out their potential.

September 4, 2023

Chanukah menorah. Credit: Pixabay.

Hanukkah and inclusion are under attack

In the “Age of Corona,” we have no choice but to settle for spending holidays with those in our own households—to go through the motions and hope for the best in the months ahead. Unfortunately, it feels like we have begun to do the same with our communal responsibilities.

December 3, 2020

Artist's renderings of the ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran Neuro-Orthopedic Rehabilitative Hospital. Credit: Courtesy.

Plans for expanded village at ALEH in works, plus neuro-orthopedic hospital

Set for completion in 2021, it will increase the number of Israel’s rehabilitative hospital beds, and create more housing and jobs in the Negev Desert.

August 9, 2020

ALEH's core medical staff and select National Service volunteers have spent the last two months shielding the residential network's hundreds of immunocompromised residents with severe complex disabilities from COVID-19. Credit: Courtesy.

Corona cocoon: An inclusion icon shares quarantine best practices

“From day one, I stressed the centrality of discipline, the importance of checking and rechecking every detail and every decision to make sure that our residents are being provided with the very best care. Again, with a population this vulnerable, there is no room for error.”

May 22, 2020

ALEH residents with severe disabilities enjoy their favorite quarantine activity: watching the story time videos created just for them by Californian children's book author Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh. Credit: Courtesy.

COVID-19: A master class in disability inclusion

By providing some much-needed perspective, this crisis has opened our hearts to the urgency of communal involvement and our eyes to how easily we can make a real difference in the lives of others.

May 4, 2020

A young woman at ALEH lights the Hanukkah menorah with help from a staff member. Credit: ALEH.

The ‘miracle’ of disability

Watching countless marvels unfold day after day has provided me with a profound appreciation for both the intricacies of the human body and the resilience of the human spirit.

December 17, 2019

Yonit Efrati, director of community integration for the Ministry of Justice's Commission for Equal Rights for People with Disabilities, explains the importance of person-first language to students and educators during a conference titled “Disability Inclusion and Integration in the Haredi Educational System” on Dec. 23, 2018, at Ono Academic College’s Haredi Campus in Jerusalem. Credit: Courtesy.

Israel’s ‘haredi’ community embrace disability inclusion, integration

Geula Avidan, dean of students at Ono Academic College’s Haredi Campuses, said “we need to think of individuals with disabilities as people first, not charity cases, and we need to consider what they deserve, what they can contribute, and how we can help them achieve in the classroom and beyond.”

December 31, 2018