Temple News
High Holidays 5764
Cantors: Peter Robinson, Elaine Aikins, Dov Geller, and Wilda
Spalding
Our holy days for 5764 began this year at a new and different site, the Pickwick Gardens in Burbank. In addition to their beautiful grounds, the accommodations, service and food were superb. Once again we are indebted to Roz Robinson for leading us and teaching us, Peter Robinson, Elaine Aikins, joined this year by Dov Geller and Wilda Spalding, as our cantors.
Rosh Hashana Dinner, West Family, Stern Family, Patty Drasin,
Barbara Hyde, Elaine Aikins
Our Yom Kippur discussion was very interesting this year and we thank Joyce Linden for the topic and for leading the discussion. We talked about how technology has changed over the last 40 years and the question put to the congregation was: How has it hurt the deaf community or helped it? With the invention of tty's, decoders, faxes, computers, relay service, e-mail, pagers, cell phones, captioned movies and cochlear implants, the face of the deaf community has changed tremendously. With this new technology the deaf community is being assimilated into the greater hearing community - is it to their detriment or benefit? How has this affected deaf culture? On one hand, we gain being mainstreamed into society and not viewed as "different" on the other, what have we lost?
In addition to those mentioned above, our thanks to all those who participated in the services this year and shared their time, their fast and their blessings with us.
TBS Annual Appeal
Each year Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf has our annual fundraising appeal. In recent years we have been selecting two or more organizations, in addition to TBS, to whom our members and friends can earmark their donations. This year we have chosen the California Home for the Adult Deaf (CHAD) as one of those organizations. Since there are at least six CHAD residents that are members of TBS or are themselves Jewish, we felt this would be a good collaberative way of supporting the Deaf Jewish community.
We also selected CHAD this year as the recipient of our High Holy Day food drive. We thank all who participated either by sending a check or bringing food donations.
When you receive your pledge cards in the mail for the 2003 Appeal, please give generously and support our efforts to keep the deaf Jewish community vibrant and active.
Deaf Student Rabbi
Deborah Graetz is currently a second-year rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. She is following in the footsteps of her father, a reform Rabbi at Temple Isaiah in northern California. She graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2001 with her BA in Classical Civilization and minor degree in Jewish Studies. Our community recently met her at a TBS Friday night Shabbat and immediately wanted her to be a part of our family. Here is her story:
I am good at math, and I remember learning the stories from the Torah. But for the life of me, I cannot tell you how I learned math or the Torah stories. All I remember was always sitting in the very front row, virtually in the teacher's face. This puzzles me because I have a hearing loss, and I did not wear hearing aids as a child.
Student Rabbi Deborah Graetz
You see, I was born in Argentina, and I grew up in Brazil - neither country had technology advanced enough to help me. In addition to not wearing hearing aids, I did not use sign language. South American society is such that you only have two options, either you are "normal" or you are not. If you are not "normal" you are hidden behind locked doors and no one except your family knows about you. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea. With this in mind my parents decided to raise me as "normal"? I was taught to lip-read, and went to the same school as my peers.
My memories of Brazil are sweet and romantic, but I am very aware and grateful that my parents decided to move to the United States. With the move (which happened when I was 13 years old), my Deaf identity began to develop. Within a few months of moving to the United States, I began to wear hearing aids - the world became such a different place when I put them on! And in school, my parents learned about services such as the "FM system", I was very embarrassed to wear them, but it was the first time that I experienced "special services assistance" in a classroom so it was an important experience to have.
After wearing hearing aids for 5 years, I somehow learned about sign language: a way of communicating with our hands (wow! What a theory!), and decided to explore sign language for my senior project. I took a sign language course and caught on quickly-but sadly I had no one to sign with: where are the Deaf people?
In college, I began to experience what it is like to advocate for myself. I learned about oral interpreters, open captions, sign language interpreters, and so much more that I never knew existed. Meanwhile, I took more sign language classes, but again: where are the Deaf people?
Post-college: I have studied in Israel for two different years. One year was amazing and I learned a lot, the next year was filled with challenges because all my courses were discussion courses and I could just not keep up. And for all my efforts, I still could not find Deaf people to help me, or to simply socialize with.
And finally here I am today. I am a rabbinic student at the Hebrew Union College and I am still struggling with balances: how many services to ask for? Having lived in the hearing world alone for so long, can I really call myself Deaf? I love my hearing aids and I am very aware of how much they help, but some of my most peaceful moments are those in the morning, when I wait the longest possible time before putting them on - there is such peace in silence.
There is only one place in my life that has come easy for me, and that is my love for Judaism. Both my parents are very involved in the Jewish community: my father is a reform rabbi and my mother volunteers in numerous activities, from helping the gift shop to acting as the treasurer for sisterhood. In my life, Judaism has been strong in Argentina, in Brazil and remains strong here in the United States, so it comes as no surprise that I choose to enter the Jewish world professionally.
There are many challenges along the way, I am still looking for Deaf people, but now I am also looking for Jewish Deaf people. And my identity as a Deaf Jew, who will hopefully become a rabbi, is far from being fully shaped.
I looked forward to further shaping my Deaf Jewish identity as I get to know you better in the coming years that I plan on living in Los Angeles.
Shabbat Services
The Santa Clarita Lehavah Brownies and their families, joined us at Shabbat services on Nov. 21. Their troop leader, Lisa Melcombe, taught them to sign the Shema as an activity to earn their Shabbat patch.
Mazel Tov
Parents, Don and Sherri Kalivoda and grandfather, Morris Feldman, announce the engagement of their daughter and granddaughter, Annie Kalivoda to Todd Savorelli They met at work and announced their engagement at Rosh Hashana.
In Memorium
Beloved TBS friend Evelyn Zola passed away peacefully at her home in Concord in northern California on November 10 at the age of 79. Evie was a wonderful teacher, storyteller and entertainer. We remember her fondly as a frequent guest at our community Passover seders; she brought life, laughter and excitement everywhere she went. She originated the Senior Citizen's pageant at the JDC conference and we will never forget the very special one in Universal City that TBS hosted. Our deepest sympathy to her daughter, Sue Carol and her family at this difficult time.
From the Contra Costa Times:
She was born in Chicago and lived in Milwaukee for many years before moving to Concord in 1987. Evelyn worked as a Sign Language teacher for more than 30 years before retiring last year. She started at the University of Wisconsin and then at St. John's School for the Deaf. After moving to California, she taught at Martinez Adult School and at Contra Costa Community College. She was a member of several organizations associated with her profession including The National Association of the Deaf; Registry for Interpreters for the Deaf and the Jewish Hall of Fame. Evelyn is survived by her son, Fred Zola and his wife Nieves Vargas, daughter Sue Carol Zola, brother Ira Lipshutz; grandchildren Matthew Zola and Monica Varga and great grandchildren Kendal & Kamren Vargas. She was preceded in death by her husband Philip Zola in 1991.
Following are the beautiful words of Rabbi David Kay of Ma'ayan Conservative Synagogue in Naples Florida:
The Jewish tradition teaches that "one must bless God for the bad as well as the good." So when we receive sad news, we are asked to say the blessing: Barukh atah, Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, dayan ha'emet, You are praised, Adonai our God, ruler of the universe, the Judge of truth.
It is with great sadness that I share with you the news of the passing of Evelyn Zola, a fixture and leader of the Jewish Deaf community, and the Deaf community in general, for many years. Evelyn was a truly unique individual - colorful, outgoing, and outrageous. As the coordinator of the Senior Citizens Special Interest Group at the last few Jewish Deaf Congress conferences, she was an unmistakeable and irrepressible presence.
Evelyn performed across the country, bringing wisdom, laughter, and insight into the deaf world, health, and aging. A videotape of her stories and reminiscences, "Fingers That Tickle and Delight", was warmly received and got a great review on the American Library Association's "Booklist."
I had the profound honor of spending some "quality time" with Evelyn at the 2003 JDC conference in Las Vegas. She had the impeccable timing of a natural-born comedian and the warmth and wisdom of your favorite grandmother. Sporting her trademark oversized round-framed glasses (I think this pair was fire-engine red), a stars-and-stripes hat, and a feather boa, Evelyn confided in me that she'd had to go out shopping because a suitcase full of her usual costumes had been waylaid.
I say she "confided in me," even though everyone else at the conference probably knew the story before me. But Evelyn had a way, always completely honest and sincere, of making you feel like what she was telling you was being told for the first time... and just for your eyes.
It's purely conceit on my part to think that Evelyn would appreciate the pun in my saying she was "larger than life" in every sense of the phrase. But she couldn't have been anything other than exactly what she was, because no other body, no other style of dress, no other personality could have contained or done justice to the tremendous soul she possessed.
That soul has departed from this life. But before it did, it touched countless others. Good-bye, Evelyn. We miss you already.