January 6, 2015
Jewish Exponent
Photo: Richard Balsam (left), has been treasurer of the Hebrew Association of the Deaf for more than 20 years. Photo by Eric Berger
Richard Balsam stands at the head of a table directing fellow members of the Hebrew Association for the Deaf as they play a game, stacking chips and holding up cards after a Thanksgiving meal at their building in Northeast Philadelphia.
The room is filled with about 40 people, mostly middle age and senior adults who are deaf or hard of hearing. Some of them have been involved with the group for decades.
But the younger generation hasn
