Jewish Deaf Tidbits |
NCJD 21st BIENNIAL CONVENTION
Close to 400 people attended the recent NCJD Convention in
Chicago, IL. The National Congress of Jewish's bylaws and elections have been suspended
while restructuring Jewish Deaf Congress's bylaws. 
The
officers of JDC are: Barbara Boyd (President), Martin Florsheim (Vice President of
Finance), Alan Hurwitz (Vice President of Administration), and Steve Brenner (Treasurer).
The Executive Secretary position is vacant. Award winners: Plapinger Essay Award went to
Shoshannah Stern of Fremont, CA., the Anna & Henry Plapinger Award went to Steve
Brenner of Potomac, MD. The next convention will be held at Universal City, CA hosted by
Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf. There were no bids for the 2000 convention, so there may
be a conventor plan.
MARCH OF THE LIVING
Martin Stone, 20 years old, appeared in an article in Jewish
Exponent, a weekly publication in
Philadelphia, PA, Martin, an
oralist is the first deaf person to participate in the March of the Living in eight years.
The March of the Living includes a one week trip to Poland where they visit Warsaw,
Lublin, Cracow, see ghettos, work and concentration camps, synagogues and cemeteries. They
will also spend a week in Israel where they visit the British camp near Haifa for illegal
immigrants of World War II. They visit Tiberias, Safed, Jerusalem and ride the path the
Israeli Army forged into the Golan. A volunteer from his high school has offered to
interpret.
NEW DIRECTORY OF SERVICES FOR DEAF JEWS
Erez Miller, a doctoral candidate at Boston College, and
Arlene Fruchter has printed the 'Second Directory of Educational and Religious Services to
Deaf Jews.' They surveyed about 250 organizations across the U.S. to collect information
about types and the extent of religious and educational services available to Deaf and
Hard of Hearing children and adults. After numerous revisions and corrections, they
recently completed the directory. Included are the listings of 87 organizations across 17
states (plus Washington DC) that provide such services to Deaf Jews. They have also
included a comprehensive bibliography of articles, books and other materials about Deaf
Jews. They are interested in getting this information out to as many organizations and
individuals as possible so that Deaf people can find which services are accessible to them
in their (or nearby) community. You can purchase this directory for $8.60. Make check
payable to Arlene Fruchter, and mail to her at 86 Griggs Rd., Brookline, MA 02146.
KESHER CAMP
An article on the Kesher Camp appeared in the
Jewish Week of Queens, N.Y. on August 2nd by Jon Kalish. Eight families participated in
the camp. Kesher is a Hebrew word which means, 'Communication'. Unfortunately, there were
no deaf leaders involved in this process, it was directed by a hearing person, Marcia
Tilchin, a rabbinical student at Jewish Theological Seminary and she was involved with the
National Theatre of the Deaf in 1988 to 1990 which sparked her interest in working with
the Jewish deaf.
SILENT NEWS UNDERGOES CHANGES
Harriet & Julius Wiggins, founders of Silent News have
relocated their twenty-five years old publication to New Jersey. They recently terminated
four of their five staff member, at their previous location in Rochester, N.Y.
JDCC'S SPORT STAFF HAS NEW PUBLICATION
Barry Strassler has started two on-line publications, Deaf
Sportzine, a weekly deaf sports magazine and Deaf Digest
, the deaf of everyday life. Both are e-mailed free of charge every weekend to subscribers
that are interested. To subscribe, send e-mail to Barry@clark.net