Winner of JDCC's Essay Contest
High School Category (9-12th grade)
Daniel Chernoff, 18 years old
Eleventh grade - Yeshiva Nefesh Dovid,
Toronto, Canada
TITLE: Spiritual Upbringing
from a Physical Downfall
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I knew my life would change forever. A few days earlier, I just moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to attend the world's first deaf yeshiva. When I moved there, I felt like a pioneer. I was like a deaf Christopher Columbus moving to a new country and discovering new things about myself. Just before I moved to Toronto, I was doing things that an ordinary teenager would not do. I was struggling with many questions of why I am deaf and a Jew. Last year, when I was seventeen years old, I was really confused about life. I felt I was drifting. It all started when I begin to hang out with the wrong, crowd at my public high school. After meeting those young people, I started to go down the wrong path.
Before I got my cochlear implant last year, I was a very outgoing person who would always be looking for new kinds of adventures to experience, but I only had a few friends. I felt that my deafness was what was preventing me from having hearing friends. I wanted to socialize and have fun. After I got my cochlear implant, I started to have more friends. I was so thrilled and excited to try new things. My friends told me that I could party with them and have a good time. This was what I was looking for.
I started to hang out with my new friends. They would ask me to go to different places with them. After months of partying and having a good time, my relationship with my parents was beginning to falter. I knew things were starting to get out of control. I wasn't doing well in school. My parents were quite worried about me and tried to help me but I wouldn't accept their assistance. They tried to Winner of JDCC's Essay Contest • get me into Jewish programs. It wasn't working out. My mother would really fight for my rights especially if she felt that I wasn't being treated the way I should be by others. Yet, I continued to resist her help.
It was towards the end of the summer of 2001 when a deaf rabbi, who I really admire, came to see me in Chicago about attending the first deaf Jewish high school (Yeshiva) in the world. Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kakon and I have a long history. The first time, I met Rabbi Kakon was when I was only five years old. I met him at the "NCSY- Our Way" program, a program to help deaf Jews meet each other from all over the world. A few years later, when I was eleven years old, Rabbi Kakon started a deaf Jewish camp in Baltimore, Maryland. At the camp, there was another role model who I also really looked up to. His name is Mr. Yoel Krigsman and I would always talk to him about my feelings toward Judaism. Mr. Krigsman helped me out a lot. In those five years, 1 had a really good learning Torah experience. From then on, I knew I wanted to be in a Yeshiva. The summer of 1998 was my last year at camp.
Rabbi Kakon informed me in the of fall 1999 that he was planning on setting up the world's first Deaf Yeshiva with Dr. Hart Bressler, the only deaf Canadian with a MD degree in Toronto. I was excited, thinking that my dream would finally come true. I could have tried another Yeshiva in Chicago, but the problem was that it was difficult to get funding for an interpreter. My mother tried hard to send me to a Yeshiva for a few years already. There just wasn't any funding for interpreting! I was devastated. It wasn't until two years later bent to a Yeshiva.
During those two years between the end of summer of 1999 and the fall of 2001. I completely forgot how the power of the Torah had a great influence on me. When Rabbi Kakon came to visit me in Chicago in the summer of 2001, he asked me to attend his new Yeshiva (Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid) in Toronto. I wasn't too delighted to go anymore. Rabbi Kakon refused to give up hope for me. He told me that there is hope for everyone. We had a long conversation about how I can ruin my life if I continued my social ups and downs with failing grades in school. Also, my parents were really pleased about the new program and wanted me to try it out. The next morning, Rabbi Kakon asked me to go with him to a synagogue (shul) for morning prayers (Shacharis). I agreed to join him at the shul. As I was putting on tefillin, the power of the Torah, all of a sudden, came back to me. I felt inspired. That morning and decided to try it out as one of the first students at the new Yeshiva. My difficult decision to go ahead with it was only made possible thanks to the encouragement I received from my parents and siblings. On September 4, 2001, I was off to Toronto, Ontario.
Exactly one week later on September 11th, I was davening with my peers, both deaf and hearing, at another yeshiva we join with for parts of the day. When the morning service ended at 8:20 AM, I took off my tefillin and went down to breakfast. A hearing friend came up to me and told me that a plane from Boston hit one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center . I just thought it was an accident and that it was a small crash. Anyhow, I went to Rabbi Kakon's class. We were learning the Gemara (Talmud) for a while. During break, Rabbi Kakon got a message on his wireless email pager and didn't look too pleased. He told us that a second plane hit the second twin tower.
I became very worried; I was so confused and didn't know
what was going on in America . Later, I found out that other terrorists an
airplane also hit the Pentagon. I was really starting to panic. It was my first experience
of America in real danger. I was worried about my family back in Chicago. From that point on, I knew that my life
would forever be changed. I felt that the World Trade Center tragedy was a powerful message from G-d. On
that day, I decided that I would change my life. I would try to improve myself and devote myself to being a better
Jew.
Ever since the September 11th crashes, a lot of things continued to happen that prompted me to really analyze myself more then ever. I am still in the process of analyzing myself. I haven't determined yet what I would like to do in the future. I know for a fact that as a deaf Jew, I do want to help other deaf Jewish individuals who are lost in finding the path of their own identity. I want to be able to continue to learn in Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid for a few more years to come. My goal is to learn in depth and understand better the Gemara (Talmud). Also, another thing that I learned from this whole lesson is that no matter what happens, we should not be afraid to try new things and if we have a goal, we can try our hardest to accomplish it.
My new experience at the Yeshiva has shown me that it is possible as a deaf person to be a responsible Jew and to participate in prayers and learning the Torah just like anyone else. Through learning the Torah, I feel new spiritual growth and that gives me a sense of hope and new confidence to deal with life's challenges as a deaf person. The September 11th incidents taught me an important lesson that we are not in control of our destiny. G-d is clearly in charge and is there for us to seek guidance from. I thought I could runaway from G-d with an excuse of being deaf and all. Instead, I am now thankful that G-d has led me on the right direction to this Yeshiva in my new role as a proud deaf Jew.
Winner of JDCC's Art Contest
High School Category (9-12th grade)
Yakov Rubinov
17 years old - Tenth grade
Yeshiva Nefesh Dovid, Toronto, Canada
"United Jewish Deaf"