Rabbi Goldhamer with Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf has declared the month of August as the first “National Jewish Deaf Awareness Month”. During August he has organized seminars by several scholars on deafness and Judaism at his synagogue (mentioned elsewhere in this column). His goal is to get synagogues and Jewish organizations in cities across the country to prepare special events for deaf Jews. Goldhamer was quoted by the ‘Forward’ publication as saying that “Deaf Jews face several challenges. The Talmud prevents deaf Jews from leading services in front of hearing Jews. Deaf Jews who want to attend services are almost never accommodated. Virtually no synagogues in America have sign language interpreters during services. Most synagogues do not make interpreters available for special ceremonies such as marriages or bar mitzvahs of deaf Jews… this is because Jews, like most Americans, are prejudiced against the deaf… They look different, sound different, we don’t understand them”.