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In my last column, I began to look at some of the many resources available on the Internet for Jewish people who are deaf. Today, I continue by focusing on some of the programs that deaf and hard-of-hearing Jews maintain links to their faith and to the rest of the Jewish community.

According to the Orthodox Union site, 90 percent of deaf people marry other deaf people. With approximately 10,000 Jewish deaf in the world, the O.U. has set up the Jewish Deaf Singles Registry. "While intermarriage is prevalent throughout the entire Jewish community, deaf Jews — a 'minority within a minority' — often intermarry out of desperation rather than indifference," according to an article on the O.U. site. Check it out at www.ou.org/oupr/ourwaymatchmaking.htm.

The Jewish Deaf Singles Registry is run by Samuel Landau, a deaf Jew who, together with his wife, Rachelle (also deaf), spends about 15 hours each week sorting through letters, counseling deaf singles and helping deaf Jews find Jewish mates. Their site is at www.jdsr.org. Landau says deafness is one of the most isolating experiences. "Because deaf people tend to have their own culture — replete with their own social clubs, athletic leagues…and of course language — many people are plagued by a hazy Jewish identify and a strong deaf identity. The Jewish deaf person is constantly confronted with the question, 'Am I Jewish or deaf first?' Many chose the latter."

The Orthodox Union also runs the Our Way program, which offers several services for the Jewish deaf and hearing impaired, at www.ou.org/ncsy/ourway. In addition the Web site lists upcoming events such as a Family Shabbaton in Phoenix, Ariz.

Another wonderful program is run by Camp Ramah in the Poconos. The site is at www.jtsa.edu/ramah/poconos/kesher.html. Kesher is a five-day experience for Jewish families with deaf or hard-of-hearing members. It was designed to enable Jewish deaf children and adults to develop a Jewish identity within a family camp program. But those five days aren't only an eye-opener for the families. Ramah's 14-year-olds act as hosts during the program and according to one of the teenage Ramah-niks, "Being involved with Kesher taught me how to communicate with people who aren't like me. You have to look deep inside of a person to find out who they are."

Being deaf should not be an obstacle to participating in Jewish learning. But according to Rabbi Avrohom Nisan Perl, director of Agudas Yisroel's Torah projects department, "for deaf Jews, the wealth of classes and Torah-study opportunities is a largely untapped resource." Agudas Yisroel's Flatbush, N.Y., congregation has been offering Saturday night classes in Navi (Prophets) that have been signed for the deaf. Now 20 of those classes are being offered on videotape. Check it out at www.yated.com/videaf.htm.

Bene Shalom/Hebrew Association of the Deaf is a Reform congregation in Skokie, Ill., that has a membership of 200 deaf and hearing families. The Web site is at www.deaf-universe.com/Bene_Shalom. In 1992, the Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf, which is affiliated with the congregation, was established. Its five-year program includes all of the standard curriculum and courses of study required for rabbinical ordination. In addition, all students must become proficient signers in American Sign Language as well as learning Hebrew Sign Language. These skills will enable them, as rabbis and teachers, to communicate with the Jewish deaf communities that they will eventually serve. The site is at www.yellowstar.com/HSD.

But what can other congregations do to make themselves more accessible to the entire community? Our Way has several suggestions for creating a synagogue that is blind-deaf friendly at www.ou.org/ncsy/ourway/friendly.htm.

Among them:

*Provide interpreters for services, rabbis' speeches and other synagogue and community events.

*Designate specific seats for the deaf to make it easier for them to either see the interpreter or read the lips of the Torah readers and leaders of the prayer services

*Help the disabled overcome isolation. Encourage congregants to interact with deaf, blind or visually impaired worshippers. If you do not speak sign language and the deaf individual does not lip read, you can simply smile.