Our Deepest Sympathies:
Pictured above L-R: Student Rabbi Don Singer, Rabbi Kleinman, Rose Zucker, Helen Winer
* Rabbi Solomon Kleinman, 95, October 9, 2015
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of one of the most important people in TBS’ history, Rabbi Solomon Kleinman, for whom Temple Beth Solomon is named. He passed on Oct. 9th at the age of 95. Without his help and vision, TBS would not have been founded.
By the late 1950’s many members of the Los Angeles Hebrew Association of the Deaf dreamed of a synagogue where they could nurture their unique style of worship, study and Deaf culture. At the same time, Rose Zucker was looking for a way to provide her deaf daughter, Helen (Diamond), with a Jewish education. With the help and guidance of the Regional Director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Solomon Kleinman, a synagogue for Deaf Jews was born. In a gesture of deep gratitude, the Charter Members of Temple Beth Solomon named the synagogue after him. Even though the naming of a synagogue after a person is not an accepted Jewish custom, the minutes of the 1960 Organizing Meeting of TBS stated that the Charter Members wanted it this way because “Rabbi Kleinman gave us our first insight into Judaism.”
Rose, a feisty woman with a deep sense of righteousness, had approached various Conservative and Orthodox congregations for help to arrange some kind of Jewish education for her deaf daughter. Several attempts were initiated but for one reason or another they failed. In some instances she was flatly refused for the reason that it would be a breach of Jewish Law. But then she met Rabbi Solomon Kleinman from the Reform Movement, and he had an entirely different attitude.
Rose explained that many Jewish deaf children living in residential schools were sent to church on Sundays with their Christian classmates. When Rose mentioned there were as many as 500 Deaf Jews in the Los Angeles area, he suggested
