Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (TBS) in Northridge, CA held a virtual zoom celebration on Sunday, December 27 to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Their Facebook page shares its history: “Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (TBS) was founded in 1960–the first deaf synagogue in the world–so it occupies a very unique place in the history of American Judaism.
“At the beginning of the twentieth century Deaf Jews began to congregate in major cities in the U.S. and formed Hebrew Associations of the Deaf (HAD). In July, 1947, the Hollywood Hebrew Society of the Deaf was founded, later changing its name to the HAD of Los Angeles. HADs tended to focus on social programs with minimal religious content, but by the late 1950’s many HAD members wanted a synagogue where they could worship and study as well as socialize. At the same time, Rose Zucker was looking for a way to provide her deaf daughter with a Jewish education so Rose and the HAD worked together with the help of Rabbi Solomon Kleinman, of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to attain this goal. The result was a the establishment of a synagogue of, not for, deaf Jews. In gratitude and in honor of Rabbi Kleinman, the members of TBS named the synagogue Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf, after him.
“TBS was welcomed into the larger Jewish community for six years, meeting at different synagogues around the city until 1966. They were then able to purchase their own property in Arleta, California, where they stayed for almost 35 years, selling the property in 2000. We now meet at Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, CA.
“We are composed individuals and families with a wide variety of education and from all branches of Judaism, with a mixture of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox backgrounds. Our congregational families are a diverse mixture of hearing, hard of hearing and deaf members, for example: hearing parents with deaf child/children, deaf parents with hearing child/children, entire deaf families, and hearing families with deaf grandparent(s). The degree of hearing loss varies but the one thing they all share is Deaf culture and sign language.
“We meet once a month for Shabbat Services at Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge and once a month hosted in a congregant’s home. Our services are very casual and interactive. Since our members are deaf, Hebrew and music are not generally part of our worship experience, except for the High Holy Days. For the Holy Days services we have a hearing cantorial soloist who signs/chants, along with our Deaf choir director who accompanies him in American Sign Language.
“Our services are officiated by Rabbi Dalia Samansky with a sign language interpreter translating for Deaf and hearing congregants so that anyone attending can fully participate.”
Source: Facebook – Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf
