Before crowded rows of flirting singles, young families and Upper West Side seniors, Marla Berkowitz, 31, bravely approached the podium at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun’s first signed Shabbat service last Friday.
“I am here to tell you that God has big plans for me,” Marla Berkowitz signed to on the West End Avenue congregation while Naomi Brunn translated.
“I stand here tonight, knowing that I am different because I am deaf,” said Berkowitz, president of the Manhattan Young Adult Jewish Deaf Group (MYAJD). “I communicate in ASL (American Sign Language) and I identify strongly with deaf culture. But that in and of itself, is not a reason for me to be separated as a Jew. I am so proud to be a Jew who is deaf.
Berkowitz was scheduled to meet with Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein this week about the possibility of holding monthly services for the deaf at the synagogue.
Fluttering their fingers in the air, the packed service showered Berkowitz with “deaf” applause after her impassioned plea to end the alienation and isolation of deaf Jews.
“On behalf of the Jewish Deaf community, I am here to tell you that we crave the opportunity to be close to God, and we want so much not to spend Friday nights alone. We want to become an integral of the greater Jewish community. . .We do not want to be separated any more,”
Earlier in the servicee, the 14 Deaf Jews who had joined the congregation for the evening, following the swaying dance-like-motions of interpreters Brunn and Cathy Markland. At the end of L’cha Dodi,” when the congregation turned around to “welcome” the Sabbath Queen, Markland hurried down the center aisle so the deaf Jews in the front of the room could see the signed liturgy.
Berkowitz clapped exuberantly to the singing. Two rows in front, her parents sat beaming. A man in the second row signed to a friend up in the balcony.
“This is a very special Shabbat. It’s a door opener,” Rabbi Bronstein told the congregation. He then called Berkowitz up to a podium to teach the signing for “Shabbat Shalom.”
Along with Brunn, Berkowitz founded MYAJD in April 1994. The group’s acronym is pronounced “miyad,” like the Hebrew word for “now.” Both women work at the New York Society for the Deaf (NYSD): Berkowitz is coordinator of case management for deaf people who are HIV positive and Brunn works as an interpreter. MYAJD, which receives financial support from NYSD, has over 200 people on its mailing list. Most are in the metropolitan area but a few are in upstate New York, Florida and Pennsylvania. While the group doesn’t have age restrictions, Berkowitz says it focuses is on Deaf Jews between the ages of 18 and 40.
MYAJD sponsored a Hanukkah bash last year at Town and Village Synagogue in the East Village and is planning another Hanukkah gathering this year. A Tu B’ Shvat service was also held at Town and Village. Last Passover 21 MYAJD members conducted a seder in ASL at the Village Crown restaurant on Third Avenue. The seder was co-sponsored by UJA-Federation and the NYSD and featured newly created signs for “Passover” and “matzah,” as well as a Hagadah for the Deaf.
In an interview with the Jewish Week Berkowitz complained that the Deaf Jewish community wasn’t included in any of the memorial gatherings for Yitzchak Rabin.
“It is so important to involve Jews who are deaf in the decision-making process,” she said.
Berkowitz grew up in Rockville Center on Long Island and earned a bachelors degree in biology from Gallaudet University. She received a masters in deaf rehabilitation from NYU.
Brunn, 34, is known in the Deaf Jewish community as “Chazan of the Deaf.” She has the rare skill of being able to translate directly from Hebrew to ASL. The valedictorian of her Hebrew high school in Buffalo, Brunn minored in Hebrew in college. She has been signing full-time since 1993 and is currently in the interpreter training program at LaGuardia Community College
“Interpreting is the same as studying Torah. You need to keep learning and developing your skills,” said Brunn, who has taken advanced courses in Jewish liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and will begin a masters program in Jewish education at JTS next fall.
MYAJD has arranged interpreted services for the upcoming High Holy Days at Beth-El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, Town and Village Synagogue and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in the West Village. For further information on MYAJD send e-mail to [email protected]
