Presentation made during Beth Torah of the Deaf’s 32nd Annual Melave Malka

Guest Speaker: Sharon Ann Dror
November 29, 2008

This week's Torah portion: Toledot

This week's Torah portion speaks about Rivka and her pregnancy. This is the first recorded set of twins that is mentioned in Torah.
 
"Rivka was very worried about her pregnancy. Every time she passed a place of idol worship (Churches), Eisav would kick and then when she passed the Yeshiva, the other twin Yaakov would kick so she was told that she was carrying children who would be leaders of different nations."
 
In paralleling with the Toledot story, I drifted away from the Jewish hearing community to set up a Jewish Deaf Community Center. I drifted because I could not fit in the Jewish hearing community when they didn’t know how to deal with my needs in terms of communication and didn't know sign language ... so I went and founded JDCC (Jewish Deaf Community Center) to make sure that the Jewish Deaf do not continue to drift away from Judaism but to have a home with JDCC. I became a leader in the Jewish Deaf Community.
 
Our Guest of Honor, Rabbi Kakon is another example. He started a Yeshiva for Deaf High School Boys in Toronto so he is also a leader within the Jewish Deaf community. His Yeshiva deaf students are involved in the Jewish community by going over to different hearing families for Shabbos and holidays and have interaction with hearing Yeshiva students for Jewish learning.
 
My background is: I'm a mother of three Deaf children: Joshua, Michael, Rachel, who was raised in a "Traditional" Jewish home. This means that we were not religious but we were strict about certain holidays and my parents kept a Kosher home. We followed the Orthodox way of celebrating the holidays and my parents didn't drive to Temple on those days.
 
I have one sister who is hard of hearing and has cerebral palsy. She is a Lubavitcher.

Our parents were able to give me a Jewish education through Chabad House. My sister, Dina, and I were not able to get a Jewish "Day School" education because they did not have the resources to meet our needs. We attended public schools that had Deaf resources throughout all of our educational years, without an IEP because it didn't exist in those days. I learned to speak through the John Tracy Clinic which emphasized on oralism. Thanks to Chabad House for giving us the Jewish education.
 
Our parents were very much against Sign Language. They used to threaten to chop our hands off if they saw either one of us just spelling the alphabet which is all we knew while growing up like almost everyone else in our schools. However, when I went to college at CSUN (California State University Northridge), I found out how much easier it was for me to communicate and understand many things with Sign Language. My parents were not very happy with the situation. As a parent of three Deaf children, I wanted them to grow up being able understanding people around them and I felt that I "missed" a lot while lip reading as a child since much of it is guess work. My parents eventually accepted the fact that I use sign language.
 
In the early 1980's, I got involved with some people who were willing to help and set up a Deaf program in the Chabad world in Los Angeles. However, as it turned out, it didn't work out. Keep in mind, in Los Angeles, everyone - all Jewish Deaf people belonged to a Reform Temple, Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf as it was the only Jewish Temple that is accessible to everyone. The Rabbis that worked there learned sign so they had direct communication with their congregant members. It was the place to be with all Jewish Deaf.

Chabadniks couldn't communicate with the Jewish Deaf because sign language classes were not offered for men and women separately. All sign language classes are mixed. They did not know anything about the Deaf Culture. Some Jewish Deaf do not feel part of the Jewish Community because some Orthodox Shuls would not count the Deaf Men in a minyan or recognize Deaf Rabbis or allow them to get married. In order to be part of the Deaf Community, they have to socialize with the Deaf in the secular world and that is a challenge that the Orthodox Community has to deal with. Furthermore females dominate the interpreter and ASL teaching fields so it makes it more difficult for men to take ASL classes or Interpreter Training Programs taught by females. (Audience responds saying “there are three religious male interpreters here”: Rabbi Eliezar Lederfeind, Shimon Katz and Victor) We need more male interpreters!

After I got married and had my first Deaf son, I started JDCC with the idea of being able to give the Jewish Deaf people a chance to learn about being Jewish and to understand what Judaism is about. I wanted my Deaf children to learn about Judaism. I felt that many of the other local temples were not giving the Jewish Deaf an opportunity to learn about Judaism. Many Jewish Deaf went to a residential Deaf school and were not offered a Jewish education. 95% of the Jewish Deaf have hearing parents so they missed out a lot during their hearing family gatherings for the Jewish holidays.
 
You could say that JDCC in a sense was the "Chabad House of the Jewish Deaf Community" because I welcomed everyone to my personal home and had Seders, High Holiday services, etc in my own home for many years. They felt so welcome to the events - all kinds of people, Jews, intermarriage Deaf couples, etc., with no questions asked. We all used sign language, no interpreters. During our Seder, we had multimedia video that was voiced over for hearing patrons, captioned for Deaf Oralists, so it was accessible to everyone in the Seder program. Everyone was included.
 
Accessibility is the keyword here. An example, a hearing family had a wedding however they did not provide an interpreter for the Deaf guests. They were willing to spend $50,000 for a wedding and yet they complain it is expensive to hire an interpreter for a few hours, $100.00, something is wrong here!  Was it because they had no interpreters available or they simply did not think of the Deaf people? It is not for the hearing people to say it is nothing important or it is boring, or anything. Only we, the Jewish Deaf, can decide this. (Audience responds “Very true!”)
 
It is time for us as Jewish Deaf to be proactive and speak up and request for a sign language interpreter at all functions that we want to participate in. I made arrangements to have an interpreter at my family's simchas so my three Deaf children and I can enjoy ourselves and feel part of the gatherings. I even had to pay for the interpreter's bill and sometimes the family would pick up the tab. We are only talking about a few hours. Every cent was worth it because people at the end would say, wow, that was so neat that you all could understand what the Rabbi was saying instead of being so left out in the cold and a hearing person would tell you just a few words out of the whole 20-30 minute presentation!!! They will feel 'obligated' to make sure an interpreter is provided at all family functions! This is such a small but an important step to take.
 
My vision for the future is that I hope all Jewish Deaf will expect to have sign language interpreters at all family functions by educating their hearing family and the hearing Jewish Community that we expect to be fully accommodated when we are in the hearing Jewish Community. It should not be a question of why but to make sure that all Jewish Deaf feel welcome and included.

I also hope to see all Yeshiva programs offer sign language classes to encourage males to become interpreters so the Deaf Yeshiva students can continue their learning after they finish high school and college.

It would be nice to see all hearing children that have Deaf Parents know sign language!

Like Rivka’s son Eisav, we do not want the Jewish Deaf to be drifted away from the Jewish Community.