After nine years under the protective kindness of Temple Judea, it is time for TBS to find a new place to meet. Temple Judea is planning to demolish their building in December and replace it with a beautiful, new state of the art complex that will take about two years to complete.
Bruce Raff held a full time position as the educational director for Temple Judea at the same time he was our HUC student rabbi beginning in 1998. In 2000, his pulpit with us ended at the same time that we were selling our property in Arleta, so he and Rabbi Don Goor opened their home to us. We have had a wonderful relationship with them and will miss them very much. But good things will come from this; new people, new experiences and new relationships.
Rabbi Barry Lutz, of Temple Ahavat Shalom, (TAS) in Northridge, generously invited us to share space with them. www.tasnorthridge.org We plan to move there in stages.
Our Shabbat services will begin at TAS on Friday, October 16th in their chapel and will continue throughout the year on our regular schedule of first and third Fridays of each month. Our senior's group will begin their Wednesday socials there on December 2nd. TAS has been extremely warm and accommodating and allowed us the time and space to keep the schedule and events that we are so used to.
So please join us for our first Shabbat service of 5770 at Temple Ahavat Shalom, 18200 Rinaldi Place, Northridge, CA 91326.
TBS has a new mailing
address:
PO Box 33396
Granada Hills, CA 91394
Friend of TBS, resident of the California Home for the Adult Deaf, passed away June 1, 2009 at Country Villa in West Covina. She was predeceased by her husband Philip Hanover in 1966. Our deepest sympathies to her daughter, Sandra Ebner. May her memory be for a blessing.
Another master of early technology, Dr. James Marsters, long-time friend and donor of TBS, passed away at the age of 85. A wonderful man with a colorful personality, Dr. Marsters gave birth to the idea of deaf people being able to talk to other deaf people via the phone lines. A revolutionary idea! "He planted the seed in Bob Weitbrecht's head that would soon open countless doors of opportunity for thousands of deaf and hard of hearing individuals, long denied the use of the telephone for nearly 90 years." (from: A Phone of Our Own by Dr. Harry G. Lang) We owe tremendous gratitude to Dr. Marsters for revolutionizing the world of the deaf.
During the President's Reception at the TDI Conference, Andrea Saks, the daughter of Andrew Saks, a close friend and business partner of Dr. Marsters, fondly shared her memories: "...This movement spread nationwide employing dozens of deaf people assigned with the mammoth task of cleaning, installing and repairing thousands of mechanical TTYs in their communities. Many of them eventually became known as TDI Agents. Their basements and garages became centers of commerce as deaf and hard of hearing people were connected, one-by-one, to the telephone network for the first time. The agents volunteered many hours distributing these 200-pound mailbox-sized behemoths often called the mean green machines, two-ton monsters, cement mixers and other "pet" names in homes of deaf and hard of hearing people throughout the country."
James Marsters was predeceased by his second wife, Alice (Dorsey) in 2003. Daughter, Jean Marsters has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations in Jim's honor should be made to either the John Tracy Clinic, 806, West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007 or to the Rose Weingarten Peninsula Oral School, 3518 Jefferson Ave., Redwood City, CA 94062. Condolence cards may be mailed to the Marsters Family at P.O. Box 3654, Oakland, CA 94609. A memorial service is planned for the weekend of October 24-25, 2009, in Oakland, California.
After a truly remarkable life, Sam Genensky passed away from heart complications at his home in Santa Monica, in the company of his wife, Nancy Cronig, and family by his side. He was a prominent advocate for people with partial sight.
The hearing community tends to confuse deafness and blindness. Sam was not deaf, but his connection to TBS was through his wife, Nancy who had deaf parents. He joined TBS in 1993 after he and Nancy married.
Sam was a blind pioneer in low vision technology and rehabilitation and was well-known for his development, in 1968, of a closed circuit television, while a mathematician for The Rand Corporation. This device helped people read with impaired sight. Sam founded The Center for the Partially Sighted in 1978.
We have a 1971 Readers Digest article entitled, "Sam Genensky's Marvelous Seeing Machine" by George Boehm, for anyone who would like a copy.
We will miss Sam, he was an interesting and selfless man as shown by some of his conversations on his last day of life, June 26th, 2009:
3:30 a.m.
Marsha: Dad, what's up? Do you need help?
Sam: So, how's your little vacation going?
10:15 a.m.
Marsha: Dad, would you like a special chocolate drink?
Sam: I wouldn't say no to that!
The family requests and appreciates that donations be made in his memory to: The Center for the Partially Sighted, 12301 Wilshire Blvd., #600, LA 90025; www.low-vision.org
Jean Greenberg, Charter Member of Temple Beth Solomon, was a regular face at Shabbat services and Temple events for many years, but after almost 50 years of membership, time has a way of changing things and unfortunately she has not been able to drive so far to be with us regularly.
But she is with us everyday as she continues her reign of 40 years maintaining the donation records of TBS. Imagine - 40 years of selfless, dedication to an organizationÐno pay, no one telling you: "Job well done", or even "Thank you" very often. And yet Jean continues to put in countless hours simply out of her dedication to TBS. this is rare!
She never complains and she never asks for anything special. We even celebrated her in 2000 with an honorary membership and yet she continues to pay her dues every year.
Jean is an exemplary woman, member and friend showing her love of Temple Beth Solomon with her quiet kindness and caring. We celebrate your 40 years of dedicated service to TBS with a modest token of our appreciation. Our real appreciation, though, is wrapped in our feelings of deep respect and love for the woman of valor that you are.
When our venerable Bess Hyman resigned as Treasurer, we were at a loss as to who could possibly replace her. Heaven knows that the amount of work needed to keep the books up to date and functional is enormous and Bess had made it look easy. Choosing a treasurer is extremely difficult as it requires absolute trust and is one of the most critical positions one can hold.
To our great fortune, Gary Jacobson, offered his expertise, and after a few meetings with him, unanimously appointed him Bess' replacement. Since then, Gary has done a tremendous job converting TBS' records into a more modern format, completely computerized, and streamlined. This task is still in progress, but from the reports he has submitted to date, we are confident we are in excellent hands!
This woman is one of our most unique members. Her constant devotion to TBS is amazing to us. She is always available for whatever is asked of her with bubbling enthusiasm, and she is always looking for things to do without anyone asking.
She leads services any time we ask, even though it makes her nervous, but her ability as a leader makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome.
She transports members to temple when they need a ride, she serves on our Passover committee without fail, and at every Shabbat and Holy Day services she can be counted on to participate, organize, clean up or set-up with a huge heart and infectious smile. She always asks, "What can I do for you?" So different from many people who ask, "What can you do for me?"
She is an excellent role model for our congregation and the community, one of help, dedication and love of your group. We cherish you, Florence Haberman, and thank you for your service to TBS for 2009.
The Mordechai Award was established by TBS to honor that hearing person in our Community who best exemplifies Mordechai's ability to bring people together and his quality of spirit, generosity and learning.
Candy Scott came to TBS several years ago, a sign language student, in search of a place to practice. She was clever enough to find a place where she had something in common - her Jewishness - and TBS was that place. But, being in a strange place with people you don't know, and being a beginning signer, can be difficult, but she persisted.
In the spirit of Mordechai, Candy's ability to bring people together and her generosity came in the form of food. She could have come to services every month and just practiced her sign, but instead she looked for how she could contribute to TBS. She found her niche with us by feeding us, something she is very good at and something we love to do. It has been a perfect match.
Candy has been to almost every TBS service for the past six or seven years; never shows up empty handed...in fact she comes with her arms full of delicious home-made chopped liver, soups, desserts, and special recipes. Our March seder in celebration of the trees was not only her idea, but she brought all the special foods served at the seder. She takes care of the oneg at every Rosh Hashana service-in fact any time food is desired.
We honor Candy with the 2009 Mordechai Award and thank her for all her delicious service to TBS.
Earlier this month, I was visiting with my parents and grandparents in South Florida. One brief conversation that I had with my Grandfather stands out in particular:
My Grandfather: "Will you be serving another deaf congregation next year?"
Me: "No. I will be with a community in Ogden, Utah."
It seemed to be a simple answer to a simple question. Since then, however, I started thinking about the question a little more. I began to wonder, did my Grandfather think that there were a ton of deaf congregations or did he think that I am the rabbinical student who "specializes" in deaf congregations? Whatever he was thinking, it has reminded me how unique my experience has been over the past year to serve as your Rabbinical Intern at TBS.
It would be an understatement to say that I was nervous my first time guiding you in prayer on Rosh Hashanah. (what other job gives you your two hardest assignments during your first 10 days on the job?) But the welcome you afforded me was more than generous.
Never before have I experienced a community that prays together in three languages (ASL, English, and Hebrew) and brings all three together with such ease. I was so moved by Joyce, Pete, and Elaine's rendition of Eli, Eli. The combination of voice and sign brought the poetry to life in a truly beautiful way.
Over the past year, we have prayed, learned, sang, talked, laughed, and celebrated together. Our intimate Friday evening services provided spiritual nourishment, while our potlucks provided an opportunity for joyous celebration. (and some nourishment as well!)
As I wrote in my first article, "the entire community is responsible for each other." This remains true even as I complete my service as your Rabbinic Intern. I have been blessed to be a part of your community. You have all taught me so much-about how to pray with sincerity, how to teach with love, but most importantly, how to care about every member of the community: from the youngest to the oldest, from the familiar face to the occasional face to the first-timer. Your commitment to each other and to the community will continue to sustain this holy congregation.
A more thorough answer to my Grandfather's question would have been "No, but I have grown so much this year and will take all that I learned this year at Temple Beth Solomon with me as I continue my training and beyond."
L'hitraot (till we meet again), L'shalom, Aron
Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf, celebrated its 49th birthday this June. Established by a group of 120, a half century ago, she has seen milestone changes in the lives of deaf people and society in general. All of these changes center around one prized, common subject "information" - without it a person is uncertain, stuck and isolated.
It used to require a tremendous amount of effort, with annoying delays, for a deaf person to use the customary avenues of communication: telephone, radio, and tv to exchange information. As a result, they found other ways of attaining it: family members, lip-reading (with a lot of guessing), and from the esprit de corps of the deaf clubs, the most popular place to exchange that cherished commodity of life.
Then came the circulation of the teletypewriter (TTY) a faster and more direct access to communication. No longer did one have to wait for the Saturday night social at the club or rely on someone else to make a call for them or advise them about what was going on.
Over the years, technological developments have skyrocketed: closed captions, fax, e-mail, pagers, electronic devices of all kinds, real time captioning, Facebook and now the blessed videophone, each allowing incremental independence for the deaf community.
Fifty years ago, these were wholly the ideas of science fiction writers. Today, those ideas have taken form and reconstructed communication access which, in turn, has transformed the face of the deaf community and impacted their lives in an endless number of ways.
TBS, and its members, have witnessed this renaissance with reeling enthusiasm and have embraced each new advance with the anticipation of a more manageable and inclusive way of life.
The formal dedication of TBS was held outdoors, in the infamous valley heat, on June 12, 1966, with almost 300 people celebrating this landmark occasion. This new haven was precious to the entire deaf community, because it created a solid base from where they could meet, exchange information, form relationships, socialize, watch captioned movies, in addition to having specialized programming. And they could do it any time they wanted.
Early in 1973, a mere seven years after the dedication, and countless fundraisers and donations from members and friends, the mortgage was completely paid off and TBS was a family with a new house. They furnished it, remodeled it, planned programs, formed clubs and groups and made it their home.
In the early days of TBS, Rose Zucker and Blanche Fortus were TBS's liaisons to the hearing world. These were the days before TTYs so these two wonderful women used their personal phones and zealously took messages and then relayed them to individuals, either in person, or through voice calls made to members' hearing children. In 1967, TBS had their first telephone installed - a voice line with an answering service to take messages, but one step closer to independence. (TBS kept that number for 33 years.)
Two years later, In 1969, the capability to communicate improved once again when Teletypewriters for the Deaf, announced the availability of Bell System Teletypes Models 15 and 19. The "15" was a robust beast, used by AP and UP news wires through the 1950s and was also the mainstay of U.S. military communications in WWII. About 200,000 were built between 1935-1963, and it could stand up to around-the-clock printing needed in both the military and news service.
TBS, as well as some individual members, bought Model 15s, and when installed, resembled a Western Union office. This was a milestone event! For the first time, the few members who had one of these behemoth machines could now contact each other directly. A phone tree was started immediately and as more and more members got them a network was formed.
In a few short years, the teletypewriter was engineered smaller and smaller until it was portable, and now modern day communication devices have rendered it nearly obsolete. As years passed, TBS upgraded to newer and more efficient models, but sentimental attachment kept the historic "15" in the social hall for 31 years. It was still in good working order and still occasionally used until TBS sold the building in 2000. It sat in the corner, developing its own persona, representing an immeasurable liberation.
The newsletter archives are filled with a vibrant history and have chronicled the events and people that have been a part of TBS from the beginning. The main source of information to our community was the monthly newsletter, thanks to editors, Marge and Alvin Klugman. In the mid 90's when e-mail and the World Wide Web began spreading like wildfire, TBS got on board; these wer marvelous inventions and another gigantic leap in the progress of the deaf community.
The Congregation News began, with the first issue, November, 1961. (Postage was 3¢!) The newsletter was extremely important and heavily depended on to keep everyone up-to-date on the enormous schedule of temple events, so timing of the layout, printing and mailing was critical. With this new wave of technology, which is moving at an enormously fast pace, the need of a hold-in-your-hands hard copy newsletter is fading.
There has always been something thrilling about going to the mailbox and finding a tangible communication from someone. Opening an envelope containing a letter, an invitation, a thank you note, news and so on, had an intoxication to it; and this was the primary way deaf people stayed connected for countless years. But now with the advance of instantaneous electronic mail, that thrill is one of bygone days. No longer faced with the necessity to wait; deaf people can now experience information exchange as rapidly as the rest of the world. The community has gained, there is no doubt about that, and going back is not an option, but that gain is accompanied by a wistful loss.
There is a beautiful sadness connected with these technological godsends as we watch the early innovations disappear. They are tied to wonderful memories that are enfolded into the fabric of TBS; they created a freedom and source of pride, that allowed a tremendous amount of independence and inclusion in mainstream society. They have been replaced with more modern, efficient and faster technology that, in countless ways, makes life easier, more fun and yet more inclusive, still, a part of TBS is nostalgically tied to those old conventions and, on that level, it is sad to see them go.
There is no stopping innovation and modernization, it marches ahead with or without us and TBS has had the blessed opportunity of participating, first-hand in this eye-popping evolution. We honor the individuals, who, with brilliant minds and unquenchable curiosity, delved the scientific world to bring these life-changing inventions.
TBS truly is a love story of those pioneer 120 Charter Members, who built and nurtured this unique organization As we celebrate 49 years of accomplishment and prosperity we offer our humble thanks to all those who have helped us, supported us and loved us. L'Chaim!
If you are looking for the electronic edition of the CN click here.