Jewish Deaf Go to Israel August 13-24, Participants Include First-Timer, 67-Year-Old Philip Weiss

From: Orthodox Union - New York,NY,USA - May 5, 2006

With a registration deadline of May 19 fast approaching, the Jewish deaf and hard-of-hearing will have the opportunity to participate in Our Way’s first-time ever exclusive twelve-day-trip to Israel for single, divorced, widowed, and married deaf adults ages 21-and-up. It will take place from August 13-24.

Arrangements will include an American Sign Language interpreter, interactions with deaf clubs throughout Israel, tours, hotel accommodations, and most meals.

Our Way is a division of the Orthodox Union’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD), which provides programming for members of the Jewish community who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Our Way includes the Jewish Deaf Singles Registry (JDSR), which was established in response to the growing assimilation rate in the Jewish deaf community. The registry provides a unique opportunity for Jewish singles to meet one another, a service not otherwise available to the community, and has already been the source of almost 20 marriages between Jewish deaf people.

The trip will be led by Samuel and Rachelle Landau, a deaf couple from Elizabeth, NJ, who are the coordinators of JDSR.

Participating on his first trip to Israel will be Detroit native 67-year-old Philip Weiss, now of Las Vegas, who is deaf and mourning the recent death of his wife Barbara. In Barbara’s memory, Mr. Weiss has made a donation to help cover the expenses of other participants. The group will be planting a circle of trees in Jerusalem in Mrs. Weiss’s honor.

Besides Mr. Weiss, participants will come from Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Miami, New York, and New Jersey.

Only a few spots remain open. The cost, which includes airfare from New York, kosher meals, hotels, and tours, is $3,000.

To register for this trip or for more information, go to http://njcd.org/ourway or contact Batya Jacobs, Program Director, at 212-613-8127 or jacobb@ou.org.

©2006 Orthodox Union