“The majority of deaf, blind and visually impaired Jews never attend synagogue, and those who do go to services often miss the meaning of the ritual,” said Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, director of the Orthodox Union’s program for the deaf and blind.
In an effort to encourage synagogues to reach the hearing and visually impaired, the Orthodox Union has developed a guide for reaching out to blind and deaf Jews.
Recommendations include the following:
*Designate specific seats for the deaf to make it easier for them to see the interpreter or read the lips of those who read the Torah and lead services.
*Provide prayerbooks in English because deaf people usually have difficulty with foreign languages.
*Provide large-print prayerbooks.
*Encourage synagogue members to interact with those congregants who have disabilities.
“Because deaf and visually impaired people are not generally associated with synagogues, the synagogues have not been motivated to provide services.” Lederfeind said. “And because the services are not there, the deaf and visually impaired tend to stay away.”
The suggestions in the guide are designed to make the synagogue a more comfortable environment for Jews with hearing and vision problems and make it easier for them to participate in services.
“The guide is a wonderful idea because it is important to involve the entire Jewish community in services,” Landon said.
Some Orthodox shuls already reach out to the deaf and blind.
Tiferes Israel, for example, an Orthodox synagogue in Baltimore, provides an interpreter for what has become a steady group of deaf people that regularly attend services.
Like the Orthodox, the Reform and Conservative movements also have created programs to assist deaf and blind synagogue members.
The Reform movement’s Lehiyot program assists Jews with disabilities by publicizing which temples have provisions for them.
The Conservative movement also offers programs for deaf and blind congregants, including the distribution of large-print prayerbooks.
In New York, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun has large-print prayer books available for blind congregants — and a sign-language interpreter about twice a month.
The three movements are expected to participate in a new project set to start this fall. Coordinated by the National Jewish Council for the Disabled, it will actively recruit the disabled to participate in Jewish communal life.