Judaism and the Deaf Jew

I was a member of Temple Judea, a reform synagogue in Tarzana, California, for twenty-five years. Even after a virus robbed me of most of my hearing and forced me out of my tenured sixth grade teaching assignment, I stayed a temple member. Though I couldn’t understand a word of the rabbi’s sermons or capable of following a service, I stayed because my hearing daughters benefitted from the schul’s educational program and bat mitzvah lessons. Throughout those years I felt like an outsider and clueless about the activities going on in the room in which I sat.

I’m not the only one. Deaf and hard-of-hearing congregants often feel cut off from the rest of the congregation. Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff, a Deaf rabbi and director of the Jewish Deaf Federation, a nonprofit organization working closely with Chabad-Lubavitch says, “Deaf people often feel lost because of the communication barrier.” Prayers are chanted in Hebrew and rabbis and lay members speak in English without any assistance offered to the hearing impaired.

Temple Judea eventually offered headphones for its hard-of-hearing members, but when one ear is deaf and the other severely impaired, headphones don’t cut it. Then, one day, Jan Seeley, an ASL interpreter, showed up for a Shabbat service. She positioned herself near the bema and signed the liturgy. Afterwards, I introduced myself, and my wife Jila, to Jan and she told us about Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (TBS), a synagogue renting space for their Friday night monthly services at Temple Judea. Today they conduct their monthly services at Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, California. 

TBS isn’t alone. There are other synagogues providing services for the deaf in major metro areas—New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. For example, in 1928 the Brooklyn Hebrew Society of the Deaf began providing services for Deaf Jews. The Hebrew Association for the Deaf was established in Philadelphia in 1916 as part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Its mission is to provide “our deaf and hard of hearing members and the community at large, with religious services, educational and social events.”

However, TBS is one of a handful of synagogues catering to deaf Jews. Hearing-impaired Jews founded congregation Bene Shalom in Skokie, Illinois, in 1972. Marlee Matlin, the Deaf actor who won best actress in 1986 for her work in “Children of a Lesser God,” had her bat mitzvah at the congregation. Temple EmanuEl in Westfield, New Jersey has two of its members who use ASL. When they volunteer for a service, invitations are sent out to congregants and non-congregants to attend services. The first two rows of the synagogue are set-aside for the deaf.

These bright spots for deaf Jews are few and far between. Why would the “People of the Book” fail to include deaf members into their fold? Since they have not been included, many deaf and hard of hearing Jews turn to Christian churches because they provide translators and captioning. Many deaf Jews attend state schools where they learn little about Judaism. Most of them grow up thinking that Jesus is God. To them, Judaism is a branch of Christianity. Why is that?

In the 4^thcentury, the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology, was compiled in and around the Galilee. Its authors assumed the deaf were incapable of learning Jewish culture, so they were not expected to follow the commandments. In other words, the deaf were “exempt from religious obligations”.

From these Talmudic roots, it’s not surprising that synagogues throughout the centuries were not deaf inclusive. By 1960, a group of Deaf Jews was sick and tired of being ignored and formed their own temple in Arleta, California. Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf is the first deaf synagogue in the world. They are unique!  

I joined TBS after my wife’s death four years ago to find other deaf Jews and a place to worship where I’d have a shot at understanding what was going on around me. I’m glad I did. Today, I can actually understand the rabbi’s sermons through the help of Jan Seeley’s signings, and the congregants speak my language. It’s nice. But my only disappointment in the temple is its waning size.

If you know ASL, or just want to see ASL and Judaism in action, you’ll enjoy the intimacy of the service, Rabbi Warren Levi’s insightful sermons and biblical analysis, and Jan Seeley’s ASL interpretations.

The Jewish New Year begins Sunday evening, September 29, 2019, ushering in the Jewish New Year of 5780. Make a New Year’s resolution to get closer to your Jewish roots and the Deaf Community at Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf. For more information you can visit TBS’s website at https://www.facebook.com/tbsdeaf/or email me at [email protected].

Shanna Tova!