For many Jews around the world, the sound of the Shofar will herald the coming of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
For many Jews in Montclair, this start of the High Holy Days will not be characterized by sound, but by heart.
When Monday moves toward dusk, Bnai Keshet Synagogue will celebrate the New Year with a special, and rare, opportunity of observance when it will, for the first time, provide Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. The service is similar to having a court reporter on hand.
The synagogue is one of few congregations in New Jersey to provide the translation for next week’s High Holy Day services.
Earlier this year, Bnai Keshet hired a deaf assistant rabbi, Darby Jared Leigh, who is one of only a handful of deaf rabbis in the world.
"Bnai Keshet prides itself on being a welcoming and inclusive community, and there’s always more that can be done to continue to meet those expectations that we have of ourselves," Leigh said. "Oftentimes, it takes a person with an idea to come up with a little bit of vision and say, ‘This is how we can continue our mission.’"
During most of the High Holy Day services, a transcriber will sit at a computer and type what is being spoken by using codes, and about 225 words per minute will be projected onto a screen.
Leigh said that the synagogue board members were "extraordinarily supportive that thought we should do everything we can to make this happen."
Synagogue members contemplated bringing in a sign-language interpreter, though the idea fell by the wayside because the CART service would assist hearing-impaired people who are not familiar with signing.
"An interpreter would have also added to everybody who came. But we chose this because we thought it would have the widest possible benefit," said the synagogue’s rabbi Elliott Tepperman.
"Not every deaf person knows how to use sign language, so we are reaching a wider audience," said synagogue member Gina Pastino, who is organizing the CART service. "People who are just having trouble hearing will benefit from it, too. We are doing it because we believe people will come."
Pastino said that she used this method for conferences and events at her job at Schering-Plough’s Kenilworth site.
"Many people said that the only reason they came was because we were providing the accommodations and otherwise would not be able to hear the speaker," she said.
Having an assistant rabbi who is deaf, Tepperman said, "forced us to think about our own accessibility to Jewish people who might be deaf or hearing impaired beyond the hearing community."
"We felt like we wanted to take advantage of this moment to make our services more accessible to more Jews."
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that celebrates the creation of mankind, sets aside 10 days of repentance, also known as 10 Days of Awe, which includes the Jewish Holiday Yom Kippur.
Bnai Keshet is one of a dozen other Reconstructionist congregations in the New York Metropolitan area that is part of the "Open Seats" campaign, opening services to non-Jews. Reconstructionist synagogues are known as being progressively evolving.
Bnai Keshet will hold services on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur at the Central Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Park Street and Claremont Avenue. Services for the second day of Rosh Hashanah will be held at the synagogue at 99 South Fullerton Ave.
Young Family and Junior Congregation services, as well as childcare, will be available. Non-members are welcome at all services.
For more information, call the synagogue at 973-746-4889.
