UP FRONT

Sign Language Offered
At Temple Emanu-EI

Staff Writer

T

he word for Jewish is made by
placing the fingertips just
above and below one's chin and
moving them back and forth as if
stroking a beard. The sign for God is
made by raising the index finger from
one hand and pointing it toward the
sky, letting the second hand rise
behind it.
These signs are familiar to
members of the Jewish deaf com-
munity. Now they will become part of
the vocabulary of congregants at rIbm-
ple Emanu-El.
In October, an interpreter in
American Sign Language will work
at the temple the second Friday of
each month. Temple Emanu-El will
be the only Jewish congregation in
Metropolitan Detroit regularly pro-
viding sign language for Sabbath
services.
Kim Batten, coordinator of inter-
preter services at Madonna College,
will be signing for the temple ser-
vices. A certified interpreter, Batten
studied religious sign interpretation
for nine years and has signed for a bat
mitzvah and for a program through
the Jewish Association for Retarded
Citizens.
But this will be Batten's first
regular job signing for a Jewish
organization, and she says she is
eager for the challenge.
The project is the brainchild of
Temple Emanu-El member Marilyn
Kaczander Cohen. After taking a sign
language course that also focused on
the deaf community, Cohen hoped to
practice her new skill. She quickly
discovered that one of the only places
to do so was at church functions and
services.

"So I began making a lot of calls
and tracking down people," she says.
She was put in touch with a deaf Or-
thodox rabbi in Oak Park, with whom
she began studying.
But Cohen wanted more. She
wanted the Jewish deaf to be able to
participate in Jewish activities and
saw very few programs that allowed
them to do so.
"It really bothered me that they
didn't have these opportunities," she
says.
First, she approached Temple
Emanu-El's Rabbi Lane Steinger
with the idea for making sign
language available at Sabbath ser-
vices. Then she went to the temple's
religious committee, which approved
the move and agreed to finance the
program.
Rabbi Steinger says providing ser- A haunting presence in Jerusalem: El Al Airlines has employed Casper the Friendly Ghost in
vices in sign language is part of the an effort to boost tourism to Israel. Casper is seen here reviving the spirits of some
temple's goal of reaching out to Jews passersby.
with special needs.
"This is one piece of the puzzle"
that includes accessibility for in-
dividuals in wheelchairs and a large-
print prayer book — both of which
already are available at the temple.
Cohen says she has met, through
Spain — will gather in the Detroit
the Community Services for the DAVID HOLZEL
area to celebrate the 60th anniver-
Hearing Impaired, a number of deaf Staff Writer
sary of the Auslander Family Club.
Jews who have expressed an interest
They are the descendants of three
n 1927, many Jewish immigrant
in the temple services.
brothers,
a half-brother and a sister
families were struggling to gain a
The Union of American Hebrew
who
left
Hungary for the United
foothold in America. The
Congregations strongly supports pro-
States
in
the
1890s. Most of the fami-
jects like the signing at Temple Auslanders were no exception. But ly ended up in Detroit and, at this
Emanu-El, according to Rabbi while others formed immigrant weekend's reunion, three-quarters of
Howard Bogot, director of the UAHC's societies to raise money for loans, the participants will be Motor City
bring Jews to America from Europe,
department of religious education.
Auslanders.
Through its own program, Lihiyot celebrate happy occasions and bury
Branches of the family will be
(Becoming), the UAHC promotes sen- the dead, the Auslanders decided to identified by color-coded name tags,
sitivity to and programs for Jews with do all that in the family.
This weekend, more than 200 explained Frita Drapkin. Her branch
special needs, including the deaf.
of the family were the newcomers
"We want to make Judaism ac- members of the Auslander family —
some coming from as far away as Continued on Page 10
Continued on Page 10

N. Ben ami/Med ia

ELIZABETH KAPLAN

The Auslander Family
Recalls Ties That Bind

I

ROUND UP

JARC Plans
New Home

The 11th group home
operated by Jewish Associa-
tion for Retarded Citizens is
scheduled to open in late
September. Six female
residents of a JARC home in
Oak Park will be transferred
to the new site in Beverly
Hills, according to JARC
President Michael Feldman.
The Beverly Hills home will
be only the third JARC facili-
ty operated through private
funding. The others receive
state monies because their
residents previously lived in
state institutions.

Citizens who were never
placed in institutions are not
eligible for state funding. It
costs $18,000-$20,000 to
house each JARC resident for
a year, Feldman said. JARC
will atatempt to raise
$700,000 to operate the three
privately funded homes at its
annnual fund-raiser Oct. 11.

The organization has a
waiting list of 200, Feldman
said. Those on the list will
enter JARC homes as new
facilities are opened and as
some residents move out of
group homes and into the
JARC-sponsored apartment
program and semi-
independent program.

Rightist Peace
Council Formed

Tel Aviv (JTA) — A number
of reserve senior officers and
academics have formed a new
organization to promote their
views on how to resolve the
Arab-Israeli conflict while
still maintaining Israel's
security.
The idea is familiar, and so
is the name: "Officers and
Academics for Security and
Peace."
But unlike a similarly nam-
ed group formed earlier this
summer, the new group's
members are largely iden-
tified with the nationalistic

views of the Likud and
Techiyah parties, and reject
justifications for trading land
for peace.

At a founding meeting held
Sunday, the new group an-
nounced that its objective was
to illustrate "the vital impor-
tance Judea, Samaria, Gaza
and the Golan Heights have
for Israel's security and ex-
istence."

The new group's more pro-
minent members include
former intelligence chief
Yehoshua Saguy, former navy
commander Shlomo Harel
and former Deputy Defense
Minister Mordechai Zipori.

Deportation
Papers Filed

Washington (JTA) — The
Justice Department filed
denaturalization papers in
federal court in Minneapolis
Monday to take away the
citizenship of a man who
allegedly was a Nazi guard
during World War II.
The action in U.S. District
Court is the first by the U.S.
government against Edgars
Inde, 79. If the lawsuit is suc-
cessful, the Justice Depart-
ment can begin deportation
proceedings.
Inde is accused of serving
the Arajs Kommando.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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