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NEW HAVEN — David Dalnekoff and Jeremy Jacobson are two men on the move. And for these two Westville residents, most of their moves are Jewish.

David and Jeremy dont allow their developmental disabilities to get in the way of their jobs, their almost daily participation in their shuls minyan, and their active participation in the life of the New Haven Jewish community.

David and Jeremy recently moved in to their own kosher apartment, walking distance from several New Haven area synagogues and kosher establishments.

David, his parents Donna and Stanley and siblings are long-time members of the New Haven community. David often makes the minyan, and he frequently leads the preliminary service on Shabbat mornings at the Westville Synagogue.

Jeremy came to New Haven from Chevy Chase, Maryland several years ago to attend the vocational training program at Chapel Haven. Jeremy recently graduated from Chapel Haven, where he has the distinction of being the first resident to have a kosher Chapel Haven apartment. While both David and Jeremy were both long-term campers and members of the vocational training program in the Tikvah Program (for young adults with special needs) at Camp Ramah in New England, they never overlapped there. They first met at the Westville Synagogue.

Since arriving in New Haven three years ago, Jeremy has been an active member of the New Haven Jewish community. In addition to his regular attendance at the Westville minyan and his regular Shabbat Torah readings, he has been spotted at BEKI, the Slifka Center at Yale University, and at the Young Israel and at the Westville Synagogue. On a recent Shabbat, Jeremy read Torah at the Young Israel. When the person designated to chant the Haftarah felt ill, Jeremy, who hadnt done the Haftarah for Ki Tavo since his bar mitzvah, stepped up to the plate and chanted the haftarah as well.

Rabbi Wes Kalmar of the Westville Synagogue devoted a June sermon to Jeremy; his parents and siblings were in attendance and sponsored a Kiddush in honor of Jeremys graduation from Chapel Haven.

David works in foodservice at the Hopkins School in New Haven. He previously worked in housekeeping at the submarine base in Groton, where he needed to catch a 6am bus to the sub base. Jeremy has worked at Stellas European bakery and is now working at a Hamden Stop & Shop grocery store.

For now, David and Jeremy are negotiating the usual issues all roommates must work out.

We get along pretty well, reports Jeremy. I do the dishes, and David wipes down the tables and counters. And we pay the bills together. We havent begun hosting people yet for Shabbat-we dont have a big enough table or enough chairs. But soon we will. Jeremy notes that he and David hope to have as their first Shabbat guest an elderly rabbi in the community.

Jeremy and David are both saving money for an upcoming trip to Israel with Camp Ramah’s Tikvah Program.