By Hannah Dreyfus|April 4, 2014 6:55 AM
Tablet, New York
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A unique learning process helped Joel Scott Strauss fulfill his lifelong goal
Photo: Joel Scott Strauss, 62, prepares for his bar mitzvah this weekend. (Rhonda Hodas Hack)
Bar mitzvah boys routinely spend months preparing for their ceremonial inaugurations into the Jewish adult community. For Joel Scott Strauss, the process has taken 62 years.
Strauss, a resident of Suffern, N.Y., has been deaf for most of his life. On Saturday morning, April 5, he will celebrate his long-awaited bar mitzvah during morning services at the Orangetown Jewish Center in Orangeburg, N.Y.
Photo: (Photo: Tania Savayan, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News)
For Strauss, this dream has been years in the making. Though he was not born deaf, his condition progressively worsened as he grew up. At eight years old, he was unable to speak in complete sentences. His parents, who had only recently discovered that their young son suffered from a hearing disorder, decided not to add bar mitzvah lessons to his growing list of challenges.
But Strauss, who saw both of his siblings celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs and has watched countless young men ascend the bimah over the years to proudly accept the mantle of adulthood, never lost sight of his goal to one day do the same.
With the help of fellow community member Allan Cohen, that day has come. Cohen, who is not a teacher by training and had never before worked with the deaf, spent well over a year helping Strauss prepare.
