Bringing the Shabbat experience to the deaf and hard of hearing around the country, the Orthodox Union’s Our Way program will host a Jewish Deaf Community Shabbaton in Riverside, California on May 15-16. The Shabbaton is for participants of all ages, backgrounds, and religious affiliations, and it will include workshops on prayer and Shabbat observance, an interpreted Prayer Service, delicious Shabbat meals and more. It will be held at the Chabad Jewish Community Center of Riverside, 3579 Arlington Avenue, Suite 100.
The Shabbaton will feature Deaf Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi David Kastor, who graduated from Gallaudet University with a B.A. in Computer Science. He married an Israeli deaf woman, Tchia. Three years ago he received his Smicha (Rabbinical Ordination) from Ner Israel in Baltimore. He started the Ahavas Israel School for the Deaf in Frederick, MD and taught there for two years. Rabbi Kastor has worked for Our Way as a Regional Representative of Maryland for almost eighteen years.
Two of the sessions will be, “How to Pray: What to Say,” by Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind and Rabbi Kastor will speak about “Shavuot: Receiving the Torah.”
The cost of the Shabbaton is $35 for adults and $18 for children (under 13). Scholarships and family discounts are available. To reserve your place, make your check payable to Our Way Shabbaton and mail to Chabad Jewish Community Center of Riverside, 3579 Arlington Ave, Suite 100, Riverside CA 92506.
For more information please contact Rabbi Shmuel Fuss by Voice/Relay at 951.222.2005 or by email at rabbi@jewishriverside.com, or Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind by Voice/Relay at 212.613.8234 or by email at ourway@ou.org.