Over one hundred people attended a Sabbath service at Temple Beth Torah (TBT) in Philadelphia where Gabrielle ‘Gabbi’ Petroff had her bat mitzvah on Saturday, August 22nd. Lore Rosenthal interpreted the ceremony as Petroff led the congregation in the ‘Bar’chu’ with both voice and signs in Hebrew and English. She may have been nervous because it was the first time she used her voice in such a large gathering. Her regular interpreter, Karen Beth Staller, who had interpreted Petroff’s TBT religious school classes, was also present but Petroff had requested Staller not ‘work’ on this special day but be able to enjoy this moment in Gabbi’s life as a proud spectator! First, Petroff voiced in Hebrew, then asked the congregation to join her in English which she signed and voiced. Her parents was also given the honor of reading parts of the Torah.
It was an emotional ceremony and it was reported in several publications. Petroff transferred last year from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf to Baldi Middle School in northeast Pennsylvania and some of her classmates also learned sign language and attended the bat mitzvah ceremony. She worked last summer volunteering her time at the Lawncrest Recreation Center’s day camp. In her bat mitzvah speech, Petroff talks about good and bad people, rules for people to follow, laws and punishments which she says are our “blessings and curses.” She says that “Temple Beth Torah welcoming Deaf children into the Congregation is a righteous act,” and that the choice of a blessing or a curse is “especially relevant to my life, because I have often wondered, is it a blessing to be deaf or is it a curse?” She has decided to make it a blessing and explains that she has “two cultures in which I live. I feel I am lucky to live in both [deaf and hearing]! communities. God gave me all these blessings.” JDCC applauds Temple Beth Torah for their commitment to providing an interpreter for Petroff’s classes for the past three years.
