DCARA Raises Over $100,000 - With Marlee
    Faced with a deficit of over $100,000, the Deaf, Counseling and Advocacy Referral Agency (DCARA) in San Leandro, CA staged a fund raiser with Marlee Matlin as featured entertainer in Mark Hopkins hotel in the bay area. This fund raiser was an enormous success resulting in a $35,000 surplus! Says Robert Roth, DCARA executive director, "It | blows the myth that deaf persons will not spend more than a certain amount for a deaf fund raiser. For that event there were more deaf than hearing in attendance. You have to have good food, good entertainment and a good cause."

First Deaf Jewish Interpreting Conference
    The First "National Conference on Deaf Participation and Interpreting in Jewish Settings" has been scheduled for July 26-21, 2000 at the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus and will be co-chaired by Alisa Shkolnik-Warmund and David Kay who encourages you to participate in their committees. The mission is to "define the issues inherent in Judaic interpreting and to continue the process of formulating ideas for the creative presentation of Judaic concepts and terminology in a variety of signed expressions." They hope to bring together individuals who have invested in the growth of Jewish heritage and culture through interpreting, provide a forum for study, discussion, dreams, and creativity. Overall, they would like to see production of materials for use in communities serving Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Expected to attend are interpreters, Jewish Deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and clergy. Prospective presenters are welcome to contact Alisa Shkolnik-Warmund at warmund@aol.com or David Kay at dakay@jtsa.edu

Deaf Jewish Lady Among Those Honored
    Jacqueline Schertz became the first Deaf person to be named one of Rochester's "40 Under 40" award winners by the Rochester Business Journal in December in the Journal's fifth year of presenting this award which honors professionals under 40 years old for service to I both their employers and the community at large. Schertz, a 1983 graduate of RIT's social work program   and 1997 graduate of RIT's masters degree program in Career and Human Resource Development, is a counselor in RIT's Substance and Alcohol Intervention Services for the Deaf. She was instrumental in establishing a halfway house accessible to recovering deaf people. In addition to her work at RIT, Schertz is a member of the Deaf Community Support Services Advisory Board, DePaul Embrey Road House Community Advisory Board, and co-chairperson of the Deaf Sober House Committee. She is a member of the Hillside Children's Center Advisory Board for Services to Deaf Children and Families, RIT's Social Work Advisory Board, a board member of the United Way of Greater Rochester, and a member of the Task Force on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Needs of Monroe County Office of Mental Health.

'Cochlear Implant' Play Comes To Ohio
    Two Jewish Deaf people are involved in another production of 'Sweet Nothing In My Ear', this time under auspices of Cleveland Signstage Theatre in Ohio: Jackie Roth of New York City who will direct the play, and Joshua Soudakoff of Burbank, CA as 'Adam'. This play starts January 14th through February 6th.

Fifth Annual Jewish Families With Deaf Camp
    Camp Ramah in the Poconos is excited about this year's fifth annual Kesher Family Camp serving Jewish families with Deaf members from June 28 to July 2nd. Its second annual Kesher Camper Program serving Deaf youth ages 9-14 can accommodate up to 20 Deaf campers to take place for ten days from July 10-19th. They invite families from throughout the country to take advantage of the unusual Kesher Family Camp program which includes Jewish education, recreational activities, age-appropriate programming and family networking. Specialized hearing and Deaf staff, along with American Sign Language Interpreters make for a rich and accessible environment where everyone can learn, have a great time and meet old and new friends. Camp Ramah in the Poconos is affiliated with The Conservative Jewish Movement under educational supervision of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Facilities, which include soccer and baseball fields, volleyball, basketball and tennis courts, an indoor gymnasium, pool and lake for swimming and boating, is accredited by the American Camping Association and staffed by Israeli and American staff members, resident rabbis and scholars, and Kesher staff members. For further information, contact Susan Gottesman at 610/ 924-9531 TTY, 215/885-8556 Voice or 215/885-8905 FAX and RamahKesher@aol.com

Deaf Shabbat In Thousand Oaks, CA
    Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe, who is Deaf and works at Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks, CA has announced that they will be hosting the Deaf Community Shabbat on Friday, February 18 at 8 p.m. Judy Caplan Ginsburgh, a performer of Jewish music who travels throughout the country and is also an accomplished signer In the area of Jewish prayer and song, will be a guest. Rabbi Rebecca L. Dubowe, Rabbi Alan Greenbaum and Cantor Peter Halpern will officiate. Sign Language Interpreters will present and everybody is welcome.

Temple Beth Solomon Reaches 40th Year
    Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (TBS), the world's first deaf-operated temple located in Arleta, CA celebrates its 40 years of service with a brunch buffet at the Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills, Ca from 11 am to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 11, 2000. Fred Lovitch is chairing this brunch buffet which will cost $50 per person. For further details, email to JSEE2@aol.com

Seminary Student Ordained
    Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf (HSD) in Skokie, IL announces that their first student, Gil Brociner who is hearing, a Chicago native, was to be ordained as Rabbi on Sunday, November 28, 1999. Brociner, a graduate of Sullivan High School and Northern Illinois University, went on to study at the National Holistic Institute in Palo Alto, CA and spent the fourth of his five years of study at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York. His interest in working with Deaf people along with his previous studies and background made it possible for him to participate in the HOD program according to Allen Meyer, a Board member of the Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf.

Ohringers
    Milton H. and Ray Ohringer have been long-time benefactors of scholarship opportunities for Deaf Jewish students at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, NY. Over the past ten years, Ohringers has provided funding to make it possible for Deaf and hard of hearing students to continue their education. More recently, the Ohringers committed to creating the Judean Endowment Fund for Jewish Deaf Students to enable both international and domestic Jewish Deaf students to attend NTID or one of the six other colleges of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). "The Ohringers have done so much for me and other Jewish Deaf students on campus" says Vicki Durzieh, a fourth-year information technology student and member of RIT's Deaf Hillel group, "This scholarship lets us know how important we are to the Ohringers. Having someone believe in you that much really makes you want to succeed even more!" (Milton died unexpectedly on October 3rd at the age of 86 in Florida.)

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