Maria Berkowitz and Naomi Brunnlehrman, co-founders of The Jewish Deaf Resource Center, Inc. (JDRC) has announced that they have received their first grant to develop an academic curriculum to train ASL interpreters to work in Jewish settings. “The grant allows us to hire a Conservative rabbi who has a Ph.D. in Jewish liturgy as well as two ASL interpreter trainers”, Berkowitz explains, “A variety of Deaf people are involved in the project as well. Half of the course is taught in English and the other half in ASL. JDRC is a bi-bi non-profit organization that is committed to establishing high academic standards for all professionals working in the Jewish Deaf community thereby nurturing the ability for young Jews who are Deaf to become active Jewish Deaf leaders”.

For information about JDRC, e-mail to [email protected].