All The Ways You Taught Us

In 1950, Mort Gordon, with a new PhD in theoretical physics, but no job, is going blind from retinitis pigmentosa. His fiancé Bernice Rubinstein walks with a limp from spina bifida and isn’t expected to earn a living. They marry anyway. In All the Ways You Taught Us, after discovering their courtship letters, Janet Gordon chronicles her parents’ hopeful love story. Soon, with Bernice as his dedicated reader, Mort overcomes barriers to become a professor and design particle accelerators. His calculations help physicists “see” the atomic nucleus and understand the largest forces in the universe.

Bernice and Mort also succeed as parents, giving the author a commitment to pursue meaning in literature, in Jewish culture, in science, and in political action. Bernice takes her young daughter to the 1964 Democratic National Convention where she joins a demonstration by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. During the turbulent sixties, Mort and Bernice nurture Janet’s independence, teaching her about the Vietnam War and supporting her protests. They do this while insisting on inquiry, always discouraging easy answers.

When her parents face a crisis in mid-life, Janet must establish her independence. She juggles her role as a daughter with the demands placed on a working mother. As they age, when Mort and Bernice can no longer manage alone, Janet moves closer, with consequences for the whole family. She continues her quest to understand what we can do for each other and what we gain from the doing. Their family’s story examines the limitations of simple distinctions between ability and disability.

Author proceeds from e-book sales will be donated in part to The National Federation of The Blind and The National Disability Institute.