OU’S OUR WAY ANNOUNCES CHANUKAH CHART, AN ILLUSTRATED SIGN LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
With the joyous Festival of Lights around the corner, the Orthodox Union’s Our Way will once again present its highly popular Chanukah Chart in illustrated sign language, for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. The revised Chanukah Chart includes holiday laws, customs, and a step-by-step guide to signing the blessings, with the blessings written in Hebrew, English and in transliteration.
Chanukah begins the evening of Tuesday, December 4 with the first candle and lasts until December 12.
Our Way provides social, educational and recreational activities for Jewish youth and young adults who are deaf and hard of hearing. It is a division of the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, an agency of the OU.
“Thousands of copies have been very well received by the deaf community since the chart’s first publication in 1999,” declared Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, Director of Our Way. The new publication is being dedicated in memory of Esther Riba Fass, z”l, through the generosity of Martin Fass and family.
“For the signing community, the Chanukah Chart offers a greater connection to the mitzvot and it is a wonderful way to participate in the holiday customs,” explained Rabbi Lederfeind.
The Chart follows the success of Our Way’s recently published Signs of Bar Mitzvah handbook, which explains how to sign the blessings before and after the Torah reading, and the blessings made by the father of the Bar Mitzvah.
Both the Chanukah Chart and Signs of Bar Mitzvah were created under the direction of T’chia Kastor, a deaf artist, with the assistance of the Our Way Sign Language Committee. Mrs. Kastor, originally from Israel, is currently residing in Baltimore with her husband Rabbi David Kastor. The Kastors are very active in Our Way activities.
The Chanukah Chart is available for $10 per copy by sending a check to Our Way/NJCD, 11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004. Those who order the Chart will also receive Signs of Bar Mitzvah and other publications.
For information on Our Way national programs, contact Rabbi Lederfeind, at 212-613-8234 or email ourway@ou.org.