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More Needed For Jews With Special Needs

Disabilities conference seeks to stir communal conscience.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Jonathan Mark
Associate Editor
The new York Jewish Week

All of us have “special needs” — to use that kind euphemism for the most unkind physical, mental or cognitive disabilities. Most of us simply don’t know it yet.

Photo: At the special needs funding conference, two Jewish deaf activists, Alexis Kashar, left, with Academy Award-winner Marlee Matlin.

Rabbis preoccupied with systematic rules miss the point of Halacha

Jewish legal authorities can become insensitive to human need and apathetic to the lure of the Divine – this was displayed in a recent debate of whether a deaf community may hold a public Torah reading in Sign Language.

By Rabbi Michael Knopf
Published 14:33 07.12.11
Latest update 14:33 07.12.11
Haaretz.com

An old parable tells of six men who were brought into a dark room with an elephant. They were told to touch the object in the room and determine what it is. The men began touching the elephant’s body. The one who touched its leg said, ‘It’s a pillar.’ The one who touched its trunk said, “It’s a water spout.” Each man thought that the part they were touching was an object of its own; none could imagine the whole majestic creature that was actually in front of them.

Mark Leekoff excels as School of Medicine’s first deaf student

By Mackenzie Mays
Published: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Daily Athenaeum
West Virginia University
thedaonline.com

Mark Leekoff has spent his life taking "leaps of faith."

The 24-year-old from Annandale, Va., took a leap last year when he was accepted into the West Virginia University School of Medicine as the department's first deaf student.

Photo: Mark Leekoff, a second year medical student at the WVU School of Medicine, practices on a mannequin at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.
Mackenzie Mays/The Daily Athenaeum

Family Matters: O Israel, for Those Who Don't Hear

Sue Fishkoff
Hadassah magazine
December 2011

Naomi Brunnlehrman (left) and Alexis Kashar travel the country advocating for the deaf Jewish community. Photo courtesy of Alexis Kashar.

On a recent Friday night, some three dozen people gathered for Shabbat services in a synagogue north of Los Angeles. Rabbi Deborah Goldmann led the prayers, while temple administrator and interpreter Jan Seeley’s hands moved quickly, interpreting the rabbi’s words into American Sign Language for the congregation. Some of the worshipers sang along; others listened to what they can via cochlear implants or hearing aids while watching Seeley’s hands closely. A group of “oralists” sat in the front row, reading the rabbi’s lips.

Photo: Naomi Brunnlehrman (left) and Alexis Kashar travel the country advocating for the deaf Jewish community. Photo courtesy of Alexis Kashar

Happy Holidays from Gallaudet University Video

Gally_Hanukkah Gallaudet University posted a video from their Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Hanukkah was among the holidays mentioned - destruction of the temple left very little oil to burn the candle. People didn't think it would last more than a few hours but, by miracle, the candle lasted 8 days.

Play Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayevr8kE_p4&feature=share

Source: Gallaudet University