ASL SHABBAT COALITION

eNews

Thursday, August 8, 2024 - 4 Av 5784

Click on the link above. When making a donation,

select ASL Shabbat Coalition from the drop down menu.

Shabbat Shalom from the ASL Shabbat Coalition!

We thank Rabbi Rebecca L. Dubowe for sharing her teaching on the little known annual observance of Tisha B'Av and its traditions. This video is captioned.

Visual description: Rabbi Rebecca L. Dubowe, a white brown wavy haired woman, who has her hair parted from the side, is signing in front of the camera. She is wearing a light purple button down and three quarter sleeved blouse. She is seated in a room with four framed pictures on her right.

Anne Frank and her family were arrested by the Nazis on August 4, 1944, after hiding for over two years in a secret annex in Amsterdam. They were betrayed by an unknown informant. Following their arrest, Anne and her family were deported to concentration camps. Anne and her sister Margot were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where they both died of typhus in February 1945, just a few weeks before the camp was liberated. Anne Frank did not die in the month of August; she was arrested during that month. Her exact date of death is not known, but it is estimated to have been in early March 1945. 

Anne Frank's legacy extends far beyond the years she spent hiding during World War II. Her diary, "The Diary of a Young Girl," serves as a poignant insight into the life of a Jewish family during the Holocaust, offering a deeply personal perspective that has touched millions globally. Written while she was in hiding from 1942 to 1944, Anne's reflections, hopes, and everyday experiences captured in her diary humanize the statistics of the Holocaust and remind us of the personal tragedies behind historical events.

For more info, click here.

Cuban's Jewish History: The first significant wave of Jewish immigrants arrived in Cuba in the early 20th century, primarily from Turkey and Eastern Europe. These immigrants established small religious communities and the first synagogue, the United Hebrew Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Havana, was founded in August of 1904.

The Jewish population in Cuba grew substantially with the influx of refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s, leading to the establishment of more synagogues and Jewish institutions. The most notable among these is the Patronato Synagogue, also known as Temple Beth Shalom, founded in 1952 in Havana. It became a central hub for Jewish life.

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, many Jews emigrated, causing the community and its religious life to diminish significantly. However, since the 1990s, there has been a revival of Jewish religious and cultural activities, with the Patronato Synagogue remaining at the heart of this resurgence. Today, despite a still small but vibrant community, Cuban synagogues continue to uphold Jewish traditions and culture on the island.

For more info, click here.

Are you looking for suggestions of Jewish literature to read during the summer months? We recommend checking your local library for an available copy of these titles:

Goldman, Victoria. The Redeemer: a Shanna Regan Murder Mystery

Journalist Shanna Regan investigates a series of fake commemorative plaques in a Hertfordshire town, which highlight misdeeds and are linked to vigilante killings involving the local Jewish community. Her search exposes decades-long secrets and places her life at risk as she races to prevent another murder. "The Redeemer," a murder mystery that intertwines themes of prejudice, identity, and redemption, was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Novel of 2022 and recognized in the Capital Crime/DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award 2019.

Goodman, Allegra. Kaaterskill Falls

In the summer of 1976, the Shulmans and the Melishes inhabit Kaaterskill, a small New York town where Orthodox Jews and Yankees mingle. Elizabeth Shulman, a devout mother of five, yearns for a personal endeavor beyond her family. Her neighbor, Andras Melish, grapples with his familial relationships, shaped by a shared history of Holocaust survival. Above them, Rav Kirshner, nearing life's end, contemplates his successor between his pious son Isaiah and secular son Jeremy. As the town faces rapid development, Judge Miles Taylor, harboring a secret, observes with growing unease.

Rosenberg, Liz. The Laws of Gravity

"The Laws of Gravity" explores the profound connections that define family, the sacrifices needed to save a life, and the extreme measures taken to safeguard those we cherish. When two families, linked by blood, receive devastating news, a critical decision emerges as their only hope for survival. Yet, this choice comes with a heartrending price.

We have a few updates:

1. The ASL Shabbat Gathering, hosted by ASL Shabbat Coalition, composed of three Jewish Deaf organizations, will resume in September. 
2. If your group is interested in hosting an ASL Shabbat service in the coming Fall months, please get in touch with us at aslshabbatcoalition@gmail.com. 
3. JDRC is compiling a list of High Holy Day services that will have ASL interpreters and/or captioning. If your organization or synagogue is planning to have interpreters or captioning, please get in touch with JDRC at jdrclearning@gmail.com.
4. If you know of an Jewish event that is accessible to the Jewish Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, reach out to the Jewish Deaf Resource Center with information so we can post in our next issue as well as on our social media channels. We can be reached at jdrclearning@gmail.com

Look for the next issue in your email on September 12, 2024.

Lillian and Albert Small 

Capital Jewish Museum (In Person)

575 Third Street NW

Washington, DC

I Will Have What She's Having: The Jewish Deli

Exhibits through September 1, 2024

Price: Free for ages 12 and younger, and members; Senior non-members: 

$ 12.00 per person; Adult non-members, $ 15.00

For more information, visit this link.

Congregation Bene Shalom 

(In person)

4435 Oakton Street

Skokie, IL 60076-3222

Welcoming the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community

Friday Night Shabbat Services

ASL Interpreted

Save the High Holy Day Dates:

Selichot: September 28, 2024

Rosh Hashanah: October 2-4, 2024

Yom Kippur: October 11 - 12, 2024

For more information, contact Congregation Bene Shalom at congbeneshalom@gmail.com

Union for Reform Judaism (Zoom, captioned)

A Taste of Judaism (a three session course)

Sundays, August 11, 18, & 25, 2024

8:00 - 9:30 PM EST

Faculty: Rabbi Julie Zupan

This course will be captioned and URJ will make every effort to meet any request for accommodations. Contact: Learning@urj.org.

For more information and to register, visit this page.

Kehilat Pardes (In-person, ASL Interpreted)

13300 Arctic Ave 

Rockville, MD

Saturday, August 17, 2024

9:00 AM

The Torah service begins at 9:45 AM. 

Kehilat Pardes will celebrate the anniversary of the adult Bar mitzvah of one of their Deaf members, G'daliah Levinson. G'daliah will be reading from the Torah.

In Israel, Jews go to rites of passage events to support the person celebrating it regardless of whether they know the person. Once there is a call for a community to come together, Israelis go in droves. Why not our community, the Deaf Jewish community? 

Rabbi Uri Topolosky of Kehilat Pardes just issued a call for community members to come. If you are in Maryland, and in that area, please go to show support.

JDRC/Melton Learning in ASL (Zoom, live-captioned for Deaf and Hard of Hearing not so fluent signers)

It's a Date: Marking Time the Jewish Way (a 6 week course)

Sundays: August 18, 25, September 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2024 (no class 9/1)

7:00 - 8:30 PM EST

Faculty: Rabbi Rebecca L. Dubowe

This course, supported through JDRC's grant from UJA Federation of New York, will be captioned and voice interpreted. Three spaces remaining! Register now!

To register, go to: www.meltonschool.org/jdrc

May all hostages come home now! Am Yisroel Chai!

MONTH OF AUGUST: Happy birthday to our celebrants!

• Yossi Alkoby
• Jeffrey M. Cohen
• Jerry Cohen
• Debbie Roth
• Lloyd Shikin's 86th birthday
• Toby Silver
• Ari Welsh's 70th birthday
• Allon Yom Tov
• Marcia Zisman

In the next issue, we will list September birthdays, anniversaries, or a celebration you want to share. Email us the name of the celebrants you would like to acknowledge, no later than September 9, 2024. Our email address is aslshabbatcoalition@gmail.com.

Donations help support voice interpreting services, video editing, Zoom related costs, and other incidental expenses related to monthly ASL Shabbat services.  This month, we thank these donors for their support.

• Nona Balk
• Ari Welsh, in memory of Frederic E. Reese, Jon Andrew Winkelhake
• Ari Welsh, in honor of Ostheimers wedding anniversary and Noah Ostheimer's 19th birthday
• Ari Welsh, in honor of her 70th birthday

As you honor birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, or the memory of loved ones through yahrzeit, consider placing a donation with ASL Shabbat Coalition.

Donate no later than 12:00 p.m., September 9, 2024, so that we can list honorees names in the August edition of the ASL Shabbat eNews.

To donate, go to https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/JDRC.

Under the "I want my donation dedicated to:" box, you will be given two options: ASL Shabbat and JDRC. Select "ASL Shabbat Coalition."

Special thanks go to Caption Anywhere for their captioning and video editing services.

The ASL Shabbat Gatherings are made possible through a collaborative effort of three organizations that comprise the ASL Shabbat Coalition (ASC): Hillel at Gallaudet (Hillel Goldberg, representative), Jewish Deaf Congress (Roxanne Baker, representative), and the Jewish Deaf Resource Center (Susan F. Cohen, representative). Volunteers who support the work of the ASL Shabbat Coalition include Janie Golightly, Toby Silver, and Chris Wagner.

Hillel @ Gallaudet promotes inclusive Jewish educational, religious, social, cultural, and communal activities at Gallaudet University by creating opportunities for diverse expressions of Jewish life among students.

Jewish Deaf Congress (JDC) is an inclusive and accessible Jewish Deaf national organization, network and resource center, rooted in Judaism and Deaf experiences, cultures and values of lifelong Jewish learning to discover, connect and flourish.

The Jewish Deaf Resource Center (JDRC) is a 501(c)3 national non-profit organization that builds communication access bridges through an allyship of Jewish Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals and the individuals and organizations in the wider Jewish community. We aim to do this through advocacy, sharing communication access solutions, collaborating on educational opportunities, providing guidance on inclusive public policy and practices, forming partnerships, sharing resources, and presenting training sessions.

The Jewish Deaf Resource Center thanks UJA Federation of New York for partnering with JDRC through their operating grant.