'No person without his hour'

(JNS) — My son led Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after a meal, for the first time this summer at the Conservative movement’s Ramah summer camp in Wisconsin. This was a breakthrough—and not because 10 years ago, when he was 15 and knee-deep into Nietzsche, Nathaniel was an adamant atheist.

The camp’s Atzmayim vocational program has guided Nathaniel, who is on the autism spectrum, into a role of public leadership. (Atzmayim is Hebrew for “independent.”) The program is an extension of Ramah’s storied Tikvah inclusion program. It pairs neurodivergent young adults with businesses in the nearby town...