Deaf Experiences at Daf Yomi Siyum
by Rachelle Landau
My husband Samuel and I decided to attend the 11th Daf Yomi Siyum on March 1, 2005 in New Jersey. Every seven and half years, many Jewish people would come together to celebrate that they have finished one book of Gemora and can begin right away on the next one. It was not a simple idea by one Rabbi, Rabbi Meir Shapiro in Vienna in 1923, but that idea grew, and now this program is worldwide! It is simple to do only one page a day, and people all over the world can learn in class, one to one, or even by oneself and then be able to finish one book in seven and half years. If you travel to another city in another part of the world, you would find someone who would study the same page as you! This is an accomplishment since how many of us would be willing to make a commitment to learn something each day?
Chaim Tzvi Kakon, who is deaf, is the dean of Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid: International Yeshiva High School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Boys in Toronto, Canada. His grandfather, Rabbi David Rabinowitz is the first deaf Orthodox Rabbi ordained in the United States, inspired him to higher achievement in learning and starting the first yeshiva for deaf boys. Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kakon has studied the Daf Yomi daily. He started to learn Daf Yomi with Dr. Leonard P. Siger who interpreted for him for over five years up to the 1997 Siyum at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Afterwards he continued learning Daf Yomi with another interpreter, Moshe Jacobson, until he moved to Toronto to start the yeshiva in 2001. In the yeshiva, they learn a specific gemora each year. Because this requires a great deal of time, they do not learn Daf Yomi.
As part of the program and experience, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kakon arranged for the whole yeshiva and staff to attend the Daf Yomi Siyum in Toronto. He invited two interpreters, Dr. Leonard P. Siger and Dr. Mitchell Sutton. Dr. Siger can translate Yiddish and Dr. Sutton is fluent in ASL. The Deaf participants sat upfront felt very much a part of the Siyum.
Other Deaf men whom I have interviewed said they do not learn Daf Yomi, but they learn other things. One of them, Mordechai Weis, Vice President of the Beth Torah of the Deaf, a board member of the Jewish Deaf Singles Registry, and a full time college student started going to the Siyum when he was thirteen years old with his father and did not have an interpreter! In 1997, he was together with Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kakon who had one interpreter. This year with the two interpreters, he said this was the best set up. He also said this event was a Kiddush Hashem ( praise to G d) and was thrilled to see such unity of all different Jewish people from various communities come together to celebrate. The other gentleman who came from Monsey, New York, Moshe Lehman, said it was his first time and he was moved by the praying of over 20,000 people in the arena (New Jersey Continental Arena) plus more from other locations all over the world! They all agreed that by attending the Siyum, it was inspiring especially to SEE all these Jewish people pray together!
Former President of Beth Torah of the Deaf, Shimon Steinhaus arranged for two interpreters to be there as well as having one of them contact the Agudah headquarters to make sure that both Deaf men and women would sit nearby so the interpreters could be in the middle. In such programs, the men and women do not sit together so this had to be worked out for the Deaf men and women because there were only two interpreters. Frady Steinhaus accompanied her husband to the Siyum for the first time. She enjoyed "listening with eyes" what different well-known rabbis had to say. She expressed gratitude to the interpreters, Agudah, a Jewish organization, for making it possible for the Deaf people to attend, and the donors who helped to sponsor the interpreters. It was tough for the interpreters because there were THREE languages: English, Hebrew, and Yiddish! It was also difficult having one speaker after another for at least five hours with some breaks for saying psalms, prayers, and even dancing (swaying side to side). One interpreter, Shimon, who understands Yiddish, is a CODA -son of Fred and Eileen Katz. The other interpreter, Steve Lependorf, is a trained counselor and teacher of the Deaf. Despite the difficulties of having poor lighting on the interpreters and interruptions of the participants as they walked in and out, we were able to follow a lot of the speeches by many different rabbis from all over the world about how significant this event is and why it is cause for celebration. However it is muted since we do not have a third temple in Jerusalem yet, times are difficult, and we pray to G d that we will merit redemption in our times.
Deaf Rabbi David Kastor of Baltimore, MD also went for the first time to the Daf Yomi Siyum in Baltimore, and said that David Landman was the interpreter, a CODA - son of Larry and Esther Landman. When I asked what was the best part of the Siyum, Rabbi David Kastor said, "The best part is to see the whole world getting together!!!"
Jewish people are known to support education, and strongly believe that learning is one of our important values. Thus we come together to support the learning of everyone and to increase further learning and help us to become better Jewish people.
We do not know where else besides the three locations, New Jersey, Toronto, and Baltimore, where Deaf people came. But there are more locations throughout the world, at least 120,000 people were celebrating the Daf Yomi Siyum.
Would the Deaf particpants come again? Yes, all of them have informed us they would come again in seven and half years, G-d willing. Won't you come?