"...the human spirit has no limits except those we ourselves place upon it." Carl Jung.

To celebrate my 67th birthday, my wife, son and daughter-in-law took me out to dinner - We ate at "Na La'ga-at" (Hebrew for "Please touch"), a center in Jaffa (south of Tel Aviv) that hosts thousands of visitors yearly at its theatre show, its BlackOut restaurant , its Café and at its special events. It was for me an inspiring, life-changing experience.

Let me describe the meal first at BlackOut, and then the center and its founder. We remove watches with glowing dials, cell phones and anything else that glows. We enter a pitch-black room, guided by our waitress whom I will call "Dalia" -- walking in file, one person's hands on the shoulders of the person ahead. Dalia seats us. The blackness is perfect. Earlier, in the light, we ordered. I choose "surprise" -- dishes chosen by the chef.

Dalia has no problem serving us in the dark because she is blind. She was born with failing vision which later worsened. She can see light and dark but no more. Dalia is indomitable. She works at BlackOut, and is a guide at the Holon Children's Museum, which has a "blackout" room to enable visitors to experience blindness. She travels, has friends and uses her computer. She was widowed five years ago.

Despite everything, her voice has a cheerful lilt, her face is luminous and she is boundlessly optimistic. And she knows my wife's blind student, at Haifa University, whom she identifies through the name of the student's guide dog. Dalia, too, had a guide dog, who died of cancer some years ago, a wrenching loss for her. Since then she has not had the heart to seek a new one, and moreover, since she travels, she would have to leave the dog with friends, perhaps a burden for them.

Our son mentions to Dalia that he saw a film about a blind person who climbed the Everest. Yes, Dalia says, he's here! He is a waiter here! And she invites him to our table. Ethiopian in origin, he talks about the extreme cold and altitude. He runs distances, with a friend, and he too has a happy lilt to his voice. Listening to him, I am thinking about what psychoanalyst Carl Jung once wrote; how the only thing limiting what we can do is the constraints we place on ourselves.

The meal is outstanding; asparagus in tomato sauce with smoked salmon, salmon-stuffed crepes, baked salmon with a spicy crumb topping, fresh-baked bread, Chardonnay wine, chocolate ice cream with cardamom seeds -- all eaten in pitch black, using hands, fingers, fork. I find my eyes closing, as the dark acts like a warm blanket, wrapping us, enfolding us, relaxing the senses, focusing attention on the taste of the food (no visual cues to distract me), and the conversation too is wonderful, because again, our eyes are not constantly shifting and distracting as we talk and listen. I ask Dalia endless questions, fascinated by her spirit.

What one thing would make your life better? I ask. Accessibility, she says. Bus drivers should announce the number of the bus. Often, she recounts, I get on buses and find it's the wrong one, get off, and lose much time. Dalya gets around with a cane, and her memory is sharp - she remembers streets, curbs, and where things are in her home. And her hearing is intense. The brain compensates for one missing sense, vision by sharpening the others.

As we leave, Dalia gives me her email address and we agree to correspond. Her face is radiant. I resolve to explore more deeply who innovated this remarkable center and restaurant.

Adina Tal Changes the World: Seven years ago, the curtain in the Na La-ga'at Center rises on "Light Is Heard in a Zig Zag". It was written and directed by Adina Tal. The actors? 12 deaf-blind individuals suffering from Usher's Syndrome; a progressive genetic disease that lived until then in darkness and silence.

In 2004 the company tours North America, gains rave reviews in Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York, and is sold out. Adina and the company do workshops for deaf-blind groups in Boston. In 2005 rehearsals begin in a snowy village in Switzerland for a new production, "Not by Bread Alone", with actors learning to knead Challah for Shabbat. Actors learn to sense the vibrations of a drum, incorporated as cues in the show.

In September 2005 the group performs at New York City's Lincoln Center. A new dream emerges: Building the group's own center in Israel. A rundown hangar is located in Jaffa Port. Eran Gur and a dedicated team renovate the place, assisted by the National Insurance Institute and the Ministry of Welfare, along with private donors and foundations (including the Blechs). Deaf waiters are recruited for the Café Kapish coffee shop; blind waiters, for the BlackOut restaurant.

In 2008 Adina Tal is awarded the "Chesed (Grace) Award" at Israel's Knesset (Parliament).