A Neurodivergent Congregant Reflects on Prayer Space Experiences
July 13, 2025
What we think of as a need for accommodation is more like a need for community.
Jon Argaman is a writing coach who specializes in working with Jewish clergy, neurodivergent writers, perfectionists and unconventional thinkers. They were previously a writing professor at the University of Pennsylvania, whose research and teaching focused on neurodiversity, writing, and curriculum accessibility. They are a member and lay leader at Reconstructionist Kol Tzedek synagogue, and live in Philadelphia with their husband and three-year-old son, and an ever-expanding herb garden.
What we think of as a need for accommodation is more like a need for community.
In a situation that was already so broken, trying to avoid breaking something by “threading the needle” doesn’t work.
My great-grandmother tells me that things have always been bad — that things have never been “normal” or calm or safe.
Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement
Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis
Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues
Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives
