He used to say: do not despise any man, and do not discriminate against anything, for there is no man that has not his hour, and there is no thing that has not its place.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands to recite the Priestly Benediction because people will gaze at him. The Gemara asks: Wasn’t there a certain priest who was blind in one eye in the neighborhood of Rabbi Yoḥanan, and he would lift his hands and recite the Priestly Benediction? The Gemara answers: That priest was a familiar figure in his town, and therefore he would not attract attention during the Priestly Benediction. This is also taught in a baraita: One who is blind in one eye may not lift his hands and recite the Priestly Benediction, but if he is a familiar figure in his town, he is permitted to do so.

It was taught: On that day that they removed Rabban Gamliel from his position and appointed Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya in his place, there was also a fundamental change in the general approach of the study hall as they dismissed the guard at the door and permission was granted to the students to enter. Instead of Rabban Gamliel’s selective approach that asserted that the students must be screened before accepting them into the study hall, the new approach asserted that anyone who seeks to study should be given opportunity to do so. As Rabban Gamliel would proclaim and say: Any student whose inside, his thoughts and feelings, are not like his outside, i.e., his conduct and his character traits are lacking, will not enter the study hall. The Gemara relates: On that day several benches were added to the study hall to accommodate the numerous students.

The Gemara continues to discuss the sins of the people of Sodom: They had beds on which they would lay their guests; when a guest was longer than the bed they would cut him, and when a guest was shorter than the bed they would stretch him.

כל איש אשר בו מום NO MAN THAT HAS A BLEMISH… [SHALL COME NEAR] — This prohibition includes all other bodily blemishes [besides those expressly mentioned in verses 18-20].

One who sees…people with disfigured faces or limbs, recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe, who makes people different.’ One who sees a person who is blind or lame, or who is covered with sores and white pustules (or similar ailment), recites the blessing, ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe, who is a righteous judge.’
But if they were born that way (with the disability), one says, ‘...who makes people different.’

(1) Do not curse [even] the deaf , although you may have the power to do so with impunity. Similarly, do not place a stumbling block before the blind. Revere your God Who can punish you, although your victims cannot, and can strike you deaf or blind.

'כי כל איש וגו, “for any man who is afflicted with a blemish” the Torah lists the reason that such priests may not perform service in the Temple as being that seeing that they represent the whole Jewish community, it would not seem appropriate that this community dispatches blemished people as their representatives at the Court of the King of Kings.

One who has a deformity on his face or his hands, for example albinism, or deformed or paralyzed [fingers] should not perform the priestly blessing because the congregation will stare at him. And this is also the rule for one who has a deformity on his feet, in a place where they ascend to the platform without socks. And so it is if he has spittle drooling down his beard, or if his eyes tear up. And similarly, one who is blind in one of his eyes should not perform the priestly blessing. However, if he is "broken in" in his city, meaning that they are familiar with him and everyone recognizes that he has this deformity, he may perform the blessing, even if he is blind in both eyes. Anyone who has stayed in the city thirty days is called "broken in in his city," but only in his city — whereas if he goes temporarily to a different city and stays there thirty days, no. Even if he did not come to live in the city to become a resident, but rather to become a schoolteacher or scribe or attendant, for a year or a half-year, this is considered "broken in in his city thirty days."

(8) For it is known that when a person becomes depressed over his gross physicality and evil deeds, and he sees how very distant he truly is from holiness, it generally makes him completely incapable of praying. He cannot even open his mouth at all, due to the magnitude of the depression, sadness and heaviness that come over him when he sees how exceedingly distant he is from God.

Question: Can a wheelchair-bound man be a prayer leader for the community? Can he go up to [publicly recite blessings over the reading of] the Torah? Answer: A wheelchair-bound man may serve as the prayer leader and go up to the Torah. His integration into the life of the community in all of its aspects is the Torah way, not like the decision of one of the latter decisors of our day.