Dealing With War
Is More Difficult For Deaf Israelis
    The Jewish Agency Mag-Net in Israel reported that a Deaf family in Gilo sat in their living room facing the Palestinian town of Beit Jala unaware that they were now in a war zone until their TV set exploded. The parents and the children were all Deaf. "All of a sudden, there was a flash of light and the television exploded," recalls Yaakov Levi, "My daughter went into hysteria and fell on the floor. My wife, who was in another room at the time, was unaware that anything had happened and continued to walk around freely .... Later, our neighbors told us that there was shooting from Beit Jala. We were so afraid that we didn't go out for a month." Naomi Rosenstein, director of the Yeshiva University Israel Alumni (YUIA)'s Jewish heritage Program for the Hearing-Impaired says that the past year "has been a very difficult one for the deaf, especially in Jerusalem... Our work with the deaf community has taken on added importance in enabling these people to function in times of terror and uncertainty." With funding from the Jewish Agency for Israel, the YUIA program provides practical and psychological support, for example, installation of flashing lights to warn of gunfires, vibrating beepers that display text instructions on what to do in an emergency, and video telephones which was provided to hearing impaired families in Gilo to communicate in sign language as well as at a local Deaf Club. "When there is a terror attack, people want information," YUIA educational coordinator Rabbi Chanoch Yeris explains, "They want to know what happened and where. The deaf person sees people in states of hysteria or running in the streets and he or she doesn't know what is going on, doesn't know where family members are and has no way to contact anyone. Founded in 1986 to advance mutual respect and tolerance, YUIA established a sign language course in 1990 for practicing rabbis at the Caroline and Joseph Gruss Institute in Jerusalem. "As a result of this course," Gail Lichtman reports, "these rabbis started to make their way into clubs, schools and social settings for the hearing impaired to teach the Jewish heritage as well as supervise life passage ceremonies, i.e. weddings, britsand bar/bat mitzvahs." Since then, the program has grown to include Hebrew sign and language instruction to deaf new immigrants, free sign language courses for educators, community leaders and rabbis, family programming, educational materials for Deaf people, a Hebrew website, counseling, computer courses at Bar Ilan University, and an annual Shabbaton weekend retreat. "We believe in empowerment," Rosenstein says, "The more information the deaf have, the more control they have of the situation and the better they are able to cope. In this world, there is macro-Zionism - the rescue and immigration of Jewish communities - that rightfully captures the headlines. But there is also micro-Zionism, the smaller programs which make life more worthwhile. Our program is an example of micro-Zionism."

Deaf Twin Towers Victim Buried In Jerusalem 
    The Jerusalem Post reported on November 6th that Leon Lebor, 51, was buried at Har Hamenuhot Cemetery in Jerusalem. Lebor was born in London, attended the Jewish Deaf School and trained as a furrier before moving to the United States in 1970. His parents immigrated to Israel in 1971. Lebor, who had become a florist, followed them in 1980 and worked as a flower arranger at the King David Hotel but had problems learning the new language. For this reason he decided to return to the U.S. and was working for a maintenance company at the World Trade Center when the planes crashed into it on September 11th. His body is the third to be recovered and brought back to Israel for burial. His parents, Philip and Bessie Lebor live in Jerusalem as well as his sister Rina Kaufman. He has one brother, David who is a lawyer in Philadelphia and the family had given up hope that Lebor's body would be found and sat Shiva for him three weeks before brother David was notified by police that the body had been recovered and identified through fingerprint and DNA tests. "The pain is still there, and it will be there for a long time" his father said, "but we have the consolation that we were able to bring him to Israel and that we have some thing of him instead of a pile of ashes."

Deaf Football Team 'Hot'!
    The Baltimore Sun reported in its November 1 edition that the Maryland School for the Deaf is just one win away from a possible championship: In this article by Jeff Zrebiec, the Orioles team "were working themselves into a frenzy." Andy Bonheyo is head coach of the team along with Jerry Mabashov as assistant coach. "We are the same as hearing players," said Robin Shannon, a senior running back and safety. "Being deaf is not a challenge for us on the field." The Orioles, winning 8-0, is playing their best season in the school's history. Bonheyo, known for his intense and disciplined style, may be in his first year as coach but has eight National Deaf Prep championships under his belt-three titles at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. and five at the Texas School for the Deaf. I expected them to have a good year," said Bonheyo, 40, who also is deaf and who, like his players, spoke to a reporter through a sign-language interpreter. "They area goon group of boys, very talented, but I did not expect them to be undefeated." They bought into his system and picked it up real quick," said MSD athletic director Scott Morrison, "I don't think there is any coach who could do what he is doing." Bonheyo keeps a sign on his office door with the words, "Optimism is a way of life." 

Nation's First Children's Museum
on Deafness Opens
    Susan Dodge, staff reporter with Chicago Sun-Times reported that Christopher Schroeder who is 10, signed 'When You Wish Upon a Star' in front of a crowd at the opening of the Children's Museum on Deafness, part of the International Center on Deafness and the Arts in Northbrook, IL. "This is cool," Schroeder said after his performance, looking around with a grin. Displayed were pictures of famous deaf individuals including Thomas Edison, Juliette Low who was founder of the Girl Scouts, and I. King Jordan who is the first Deaf person to be president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. This permanent exhibit on deafness and hearing loss also includes oversized parts of the ear, hearing aids through the ages and a tuning fork and water tank to show children how sound makes waves in water. "Since Christopher is from a hearing family," says Schroeder's mother Bobbie, "there will always be a part of him we can never really understand... We all use sign language, but coming here to the center he can talk to deaf teenagers and deaf adults and everyone here signs." A theater featuring live performances introduces children to deaf culture and the museum, and children can complete art projects that deal with deafness. Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, who took acting classes at the center, says that the idea of a museum "was great" says her mother, Libby Matlin who also attended the museum opening, "I hope it can bridge a gap between hearing kids and deaf kids and that they bring a lot of hearing kids from schools here to learn more." Organizers hope many hearing children from schools and groups like Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts will visit to learn more about hearing loss so they will be more understanding when they meet people who are deaf, says Katherine Bus, the museum's director. State Senator Kathy Parker and State Rep Elizabeth Coulson were instrumental in the center receiving about $146,000 in state funding. Admission is $10 by appointment only from Mondays to Saturdays. Their website is www.icodaarts.org

Deaf Palestinian Shot To Death
    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on November 10th that a deaf Palestinian had been shot to death by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. They attributed this information to Palestinian security and hospital sources. Samir Abu Halib, 37, was walking near the border between the Gaza Strip and al Qarara in Israel, close to the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif when he was hit by six bullets including two in the stomach. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers had ordered him to stop when he approached their position, fired shots in the air then aimed at his legs. "We treated his wounds and handed him over to the Palestinians, and he probably died later because of inadequate care," the spokesman said.

NJCD To Honor Leaders
    The Our Way Program at National Jewish Council for the Disabled has announced that they will be awarding their annual 'Our Way Award' to Rabbi David and Tchia Kastor during the NJCD National Tribute Dinner at New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on Tuesday, December 4, 2001. Please contact NCJD/Our Way at Voice 212-613-8234 or e-mail to OurWay@ou.org.

Upcoming Hadassah Event
    The University of Judaism Department of Continuing Education and Hadassah Southern California Northern Area Region has announced their fourth annual Women's Community Conference 'Exercising Your Mind; Minding Your Body' is an opportunity for intellectual and spiritual stimulation of your mind, body and soul. This day-long event will be held on Sunday March 10th and interpreter will be provided with advance registration. To receive a brochure or register at $40 per person which includes continental breakfast, lunch and all sessions, call Hadassah Southern California at Voice 818/783-3488 or through their website at www.hadassahsc.org

Math & Communication Results
In New Technology
    Dimitri Kanevsky, an IBM employee who has been completely deaf since he was 3 years old, has combined his training as a theoretical mathematician with his passion for finding new and better ways to communicate according to D/C reporter Kate Colborn. "I have moved from theoretical to applied mathematics," Kanevsky says, "In this field there are a lot of opportunities for me to make an impact on the lives of other people." Currently employed in the speech recognition group at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, Kanevsky holds 24 patents and has over 60 more pending! He also wrote technical and academic articles. He was born in Kiev, Ukraine which, during his upbringing, was part of the Soviet Union. While growing up, he learned to lipread and speak well. "I studied in a regular school, not a school for the hearing impaired. My grandfather spent a lot of time with me and even taught me some English." Kanevsky also studied English in school. He received his math diploma from Moscow University in 1974 and a doctorate in math in 1977 when he was 25 years old. "I would put my hand on the shoulder or throat of someone who was talking", he explains, "Feeling the vibration helped me to lipread... I had studied some electronics. With a few friends, I developed a multi-channel tactile device to transmit vibrations" which he claims improved his pronunciation and lipreading, just the first of several "vibrotactile" devices he has designed to date. When he moved to Israel, he even started a company to market the devices while working as a math researcher in Tel Aviv and Rehovot. He sent two years at the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, Germany before he was invited to Princeton University in Princeton, NJ where he was a visiting scientist in mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study and eventually, in 1986 he met IBM Fellow Charlie Bennett while giving a presentation on cellular automata at Boston University. Although the cochlear implant has since then replaced his device, IBM showed interest in his work and he was invited to work for them. Kanevsky, his pregnant down. He works at IBM with more than 100 speech recognition researchers from India, China, Holland, France and Canada as well as Americans and finds himself mentoring younger technical people "including several who have hearing impairments." Among his projects at IBM: a web-based stenographic captioning system that creates a real-time transcript of a phone conference. They are now testing the IBM NetScribe system which replaces the stenographer with automated speech recognition software. "it can be a very cost-effective way to take notes and have a record of a meeting... of course it allows deaf and hard-of-hearing people to be full participants." Kanevsky now focuses almost exclusively on speech recognition as a communication tool. "The team I lead is very enthusiastic about these projects. It's my personal opinion that our work will revolutionize many people's lives."

Sign Language On A Jewish Sticker
    The Jewish Stickers in Verona, NJ has included ASL as one of e designs in its new line of decorative stickers with Jewish themes. There are four sets of designs: Shalom and Mazel Tov, Rosh Hashana, Shabbat and Chanukah. Interested persons can visit their website at www.jewishstickers.com 

JDCC's Chanukah Party Playing 'Jewish Link' Game

Tu B'Shevat - First Day of Spring

       Tu B'Shevat falls on the fifteenth of Shevat in the Jewish calendar, the first day of spring in Israel. The rainy season has ended. The trees are beginning to bud and fruit begins to grow. It falls well before spring time in North America in late January or February. This year it takes place on Monday, January 28th. This celebration is also known as the 'Birthday of Trees.' In Israel, it is celebrated by planting trees or seeds. Jewish people around the world also celebrate the holiday by purchasing trees to be planted in Israel. It is a time to express our love of Israel. Many people participate in a Tu B'Shevat seder where they eat foods that could be grown in Israel. These food would be fruits such as vines, dates, figs, pomegranates, olives and nuts i.e. almonds. We also eat fruit that we have not eaten during the year so we can say the blessing SHEHECHIYANU. In this blessing, we thank G-d for keeping us alive and healthy as a part of His world until this day.

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