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Role Models

Rabbis and foundations give hope
to those who stutter.

Adam R. Lichter

Special to the Jewish News

S

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a out 1 I c e ica e s

58

September 27 2012

ernory

ometimes when we surf the
Internet, we get a big surprise.
Last week was no exception
for me when I stumbled on an amaz-
ing article about the life of the late
Rabbi Meir Kahane. During my youth,
I would often hear members of my
extended family discuss him and argue
about him. It seemed that while all
my family supported his general goal
of helping the Jewish people in need,
there were both negative things and
positive things stated about the contro-
versial rabbi.
Now Rabbi Kahane is my hero,
and I am striving to learn as much
about him as I can. You see, I am a
PWS (person who stutters) and was
totally unaware that he was also a PWS
until I read a revealing article on the
subject called "The Key to Greatness"
by Tzir Fishman in the Jewish Press.
I was absolutely fascinated to learn
that in his early 20s while a student at
Miner Yeshiva Rabbinical Seminary
in Brooklyn, Kahane realized that he
could never fulfill his grandiose dreams
of aiding the Jewish people if he did
not address his stuttering. In 1952, he
enrolled at the Martin Hall Institute for
Speech Disorders in Rhode Island, and
made a great deal of progress, enabling
him to become a compelling orator.
I think that Kahane's personal
story is inspiring and one that could
motivate other people struggling with
stuttering. In fact, 1 percent of the
worldwide adult population stutters,
in addition to 4 percent of the child
population at some time during their
development. Seventy-five percent of
these children who stutter stop stut-
tering, while the other 25 percent
become adults who stutter. These sta-
tistics apply to Israel as well as to the
worldwide Jewish population. I read
on the website of the Jewish Stuttering
Association (www.jstutter.org) that

500,000 people of our Jewish faith are
affected by stuttering.
As you can imagine, so many dif-
ferent theories abound for treating
stuttering in children, but all experts
agree that the most important thing is
to get a child in front of a speech thera-
pist immediately when the stuttering
begins to increase the chances that the
child will be among the 75 percent of
stuttering kids who stop stuttering.
While I do have newfound interest
in Rabbi Meir Kahane after learning
of his stuttering, in my life I have both
heard of and come across other rab-
bis who stutter. For example, Rabbi
Mark Glickman of Washington state
wrote an essay entitled "Reflections of
a Stuttering Rabbi," which is available
on the Internet. For me, I know that
people who are striving for fluency
through speech therapy need a mea-
sure of faith as well, regardless of their
religious affiliation.
When I was growing up in the
1980s, of course there was no Internet,
but there were also limited resources;
I felt alone in my struggle with my
speech. Now, it is a different world
for people who stutter befcause of the
many resources available. The Israeli
Stuttering Association (www.ambi.org.
il) is an absolutely dynamic organiza-
tion dedicated to helping people who
stutter in Israel, as well as serving as a
resource for people in other countries.
In 2010, the Jewish Stuttering
Association was formed in the U.S.
to serve the Jewish people both there
and abroad. The JSA promotes Torah-
related activities for its members in
addition to giving financial assistance
to needy families for speech therapy
for their children. The organization has
grown immensely in just two years,
connecting people who stutter of the
Jewish faith.
Also, the website of the Stuttering
Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org)
offers a downloadable brochure called

Role Models on page 60