The challenge of being legally blind since birth has not stopped Richard Bernstein from becoming a lawyer, a Michigan Supreme Court Justice, run more than 20 marathons and compete in a Ironman triathlon race.
Bernstein recently inspired the local Jewish community when he shared his story at synagogues and day schools in South Florida.
Bernstein hopes his talks with local audiences made a difference and that something good will come out of them.
“I think what it really comes to, and the reason why I work so hard on this, is that people like me with disabilities know what we can accomplish and what we can achieve, we just need people who are not disabled to give us an opportunity to do it and give us a chance.”
Bernstein continued, “We want them to look at us and realize what we can accomplish and what we can achieve.”
“We need people to give us the opportunity to do it. That’s what it comes down to.”
Bernstein spoke at B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton on behalf of Yachad, The National Jewish Council for Disabilities, Chabad of Boca Raton, Bikur Cholm of Hollywood’s annual fundraiser and six Jewish schools in Boca Raton. The schools were Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Katz Yeshiva High School, Torah Academy Middle School for Girls, Torah Academy Middle School for Boys and Hadar High School.
Bernstein praises South Florida’s Jewish community as a fantastic one. His favorite part of the visit was speaking with the students at schools.
“The younger people are so wonderful. What you come to find when your’e going to schools is that the kids are so kind, they’re so warm, so good natured and so appreciative. They’re so well-mannered.”
Bernstein’s visits to the local schools were arranged through School Educational Services of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County and Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services.
Marilyn Nachman, director of the Federation’s School Educational Services, said Bernstein was absolutely phenomenal when he spoke to the students.
“He started off by telling the students to think of any questions they would like to ask him, and from their questions, he spoke about his childhood, his education and his best efforts to achieve anything that a sighted person can do and more. He was an absolutely inspiring speaker and he received a standing ovation at every school.”
Elanit Berkower, a 12th grade student at Donna Klein, also thought Bernstein was inspiring.
“It was really cool when he talked about the Ironman races, because we wondered how it was even possible to go through all that training and all of these challenges, especially for someone who is blind. It’s very cool how someone could just undertake these challenges.”
Ariel Hus, a 12th grader at Donna Klein, said, “I think this was a story about how if you put your mind to something, you can really achieve it no matter what obstacles you have in your way.”
Among the things Bernstein shared during his local talks were his deep faith in God and his gratitude for both his challenges and his blessings. He also spoke about what he feels is the primary importance of interpersonal relationships in people’s lives and the difficulties many people with disabilities have in forging meaningful connections with other people.
Rabbi Arele Gopin of Chabad of Boca Raton said people were blown away from Bernstein’s presentation at the synagogue.
When asked what he thought stood out from Bernstein’s presentation, Gopin responded, “That a man with so many challenges and handicaps, who could have easily made every excuse in the world not to succeed, chose not to make excuses.”
“He chose to succeed, and he did.”
Gopin said the Chabad’s goals in hosting Bernstein were “To raise awareness for those with handicaps and disabilities, and more importantly to give hope to all those facing the challenges of special needs or disabilities.”
