{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":0.0,"endTime":0.12,"body":"Hi."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":3.48,"endTime":7.11,"body":"I'm Gary Waleik, and this is"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":3.48,"endTime":7.11,"body":"Lamplighters - stories from"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":7.2,"endTime":9.66,"body":"Chabad emissaries on the Jewish"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":7.2,"endTime":9.66,"body":"frontier."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":12.69,"endTime":16.38,"body":"Life as an emissary is often"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":12.69,"endTime":16.38,"body":"joyous, but it can be"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":16.38,"endTime":20.07,"body":"unpredictable and even"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":16.38,"endTime":20.07,"body":"dangerous. Chabad has become a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":20.07,"endTime":23.91,"body":"ubiquitous presence in every"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":20.07,"endTime":23.91,"body":"corner of the world. But behind"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":23.91,"endTime":27.6,"body":"every Chabad house are"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":23.91,"endTime":27.6,"body":"emissaries, regular people"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":27.69,"endTime":31.53,"body":"striving to transcend their"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":27.69,"endTime":31.53,"body":"circumstances and the community"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":31.53,"endTime":35.46,"body":"that supports and relies on"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":31.53,"endTime":35.46,"body":"them. These are their stories."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":40.07,"endTime":44.78,"body":"Steve wiener is 66 years old. He"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":40.07,"endTime":44.78,"body":"grew up where Ocean Parkway and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":44.78,"endTime":49.13,"body":"Avenue P meets in what he calls"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":44.78,"endTime":49.13,"body":"the heart of Jewish Brooklyn. He"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":49.13,"endTime":53.0,"body":"was raised by Eastern European"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":49.13,"endTime":53.0,"body":"immigrants. His entire family"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":53.0,"endTime":56.54,"body":"lived within the same four or"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":53.0,"endTime":56.54,"body":"five blocks. And they were very"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":56.54,"endTime":58.19,"body":"involved in Jewish life."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":58.22,"endTime":61.19,"body":"But as a deaf boy"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":58.22,"endTime":61.19,"body":"with deaf parents, even though"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":61.19,"endTime":63.11,"body":"we were in the heart of"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":61.19,"endTime":63.11,"body":"everything, and we saw"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":63.11,"endTime":66.14,"body":"everything, we might as well"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":63.11,"endTime":66.14,"body":"have lived quite far away,"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":66.35,"endTime":69.26,"body":"because we didn't have access"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":66.35,"endTime":69.26,"body":"due to the language barrier."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":69.33,"endTime":71.49,"body":"And here's where I"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":69.33,"endTime":71.49,"body":"should say that Steve winter"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":71.49,"endTime":75.54,"body":"prefers using an interpreter"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":71.49,"endTime":75.54,"body":"rather than his own voice. So"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":75.54,"endTime":78.6,"body":"when I interviewed him, it was"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":75.54,"endTime":78.6,"body":"with the assistance of two"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":78.6,"endTime":82.32,"body":"American Sign Language"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":78.6,"endTime":82.32,"body":"interpreters, Jessica Ames, and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":82.32,"endTime":86.13,"body":"Craig Fogle. The voice of Steve"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":82.32,"endTime":86.13,"body":"wiener is provided by voice"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":86.13,"endTime":89.04,"body":"actor Shmuel Bolen. But back to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":86.13,"endTime":89.04,"body":"the story."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":90.86,"endTime":93.8,"body":"Steve says there were some"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":90.86,"endTime":93.8,"body":"opportunities for Jewish"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":93.8,"endTime":95.45,"body":"learning in the early 60s."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":95.51,"endTime":98.12,"body":"By the time I was"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":95.51,"endTime":98.12,"body":"six, my grandmother and"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":98.12,"endTime":101.78,"body":"grandfather tried to send me to"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":98.12,"endTime":101.78,"body":"Hebrew school to study. But I"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":101.78,"endTime":103.4,"body":"didn't understand what was"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":101.78,"endTime":103.4,"body":"happening there."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":103.46,"endTime":106.16,"body":"That was Rabbi"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":103.46,"endTime":106.16,"body":"David Eliezer Rabinowitz, a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":106.16,"endTime":110.69,"body":"school for Deaf Jewish kids on"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":106.16,"endTime":110.69,"body":"Eastern Parkway. But Steve, who"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":110.69,"endTime":114.89,"body":"is naturally curious, was"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":110.69,"endTime":114.89,"body":"driving the faculty a bit crazy."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":115.19,"endTime":119.18,"body":"The last straw was when he asked"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":115.19,"endTime":119.18,"body":"about dinosaurs and cavemen"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":119.42,"endTime":123.32,"body":"during a lesson about the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":119.42,"endTime":123.32,"body":"accounts of creation in Genesis,"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":123.47,"endTime":126.05,"body":"and the teacher"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":123.47,"endTime":126.05,"body":"told my family that I asked too"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":126.05,"endTime":129.02,"body":"many questions, and they didn't"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":126.05,"endTime":129.02,"body":"want me to continue going to"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":129.02,"endTime":129.71,"body":"Hebrew school."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":129.93,"endTime":132.39,"body":"When Steve was"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":129.93,"endTime":132.39,"body":"eight years old, he attended the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":132.39,"endTime":136.35,"body":"newly created Temple Beth or's o"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":132.39,"endTime":136.35,"body":"ce a week your Shiva program a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":136.59,"endTime":139.68,"body":"d prepared for his bar m"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":136.59,"endTime":139.68,"body":"tzvah. And he studied some b"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":139.68,"endTime":143.31,"body":"sic subjects with his g"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":139.68,"endTime":143.31,"body":"andfather. But he says what he w"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":143.31,"endTime":147.3,"body":"s learning was too simple and s"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":143.31,"endTime":147.3,"body":"raightforward. He was a smart k"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":147.3,"endTime":151.65,"body":"d, and he wanted something d"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":147.3,"endTime":151.65,"body":"eper, he engaged with a lot of d"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":151.65,"endTime":153.36,"body":"ep texts on his own."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":153.9,"endTime":156.63,"body":"I studied"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":153.9,"endTime":156.63,"body":"maimonides and Mayor of"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":156.63,"endTime":162.63,"body":"Ruthenberg and Judah, HaNasi,"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":156.63,"endTime":162.63,"body":"and Rav and Shmuel, I read all"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":162.63,"endTime":164.67,"body":"of these on my own, but with no"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":162.63,"endTime":164.67,"body":"support."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":166.62,"endTime":170.4,"body":"But I didn't have a study"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":166.62,"endTime":170.4,"body":"partner or Chavrusa, it was like"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":170.4,"endTime":174.99,"body":"I was behind a wall, all on my"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":170.4,"endTime":174.99,"body":"own, just reading. And i didn't"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":174.99,"endTime":177.0,"body":"have any back and forth with"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":174.99,"endTime":177.0,"body":"anyone."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":178.59,"endTime":181.8,"body":"And can you imagine me growing"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":178.59,"endTime":181.8,"body":"up with no one to talk about"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":181.8,"endTime":185.58,"body":"Rashi with? no one to discuss"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":181.8,"endTime":185.58,"body":"these things, I was exposing"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":185.58,"endTime":190.62,"body":"myself to so many things. You"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":185.58,"endTime":190.62,"body":"know, I was parched."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":190.84,"endTime":193.93,"body":"Steve learned that"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":190.84,"endTime":193.93,"body":"way for the next few years."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":194.08,"endTime":196.3,"body":"And you know, it"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":194.08,"endTime":196.3,"body":"wasn't motivating after a while."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":196.33,"endTime":200.14,"body":"So basically, my connection to"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":196.33,"endTime":200.14,"body":"Judaism really became secondary"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":200.14,"endTime":200.83,"body":"in my life."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":203.65,"endTime":206.53,"body":"Weiner finished his"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":203.65,"endTime":206.53,"body":"public school education and went"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":206.53,"endTime":210.37,"body":"to college. He says he joined"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":206.53,"endTime":210.37,"body":"Hillel there mostly so we could"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":210.37,"endTime":214.57,"body":"get good New York lox. But he"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":210.37,"endTime":214.57,"body":"always had the repressed feeling"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":214.6,"endTime":218.62,"body":"that he should, in his words,"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":214.6,"endTime":218.62,"body":"\"give Jewish life a second"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":218.65,"endTime":219.4,"body":"chance\"."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":219.91,"endTime":221.98,"body":"He even applied to rabbinical"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":219.91,"endTime":221.98,"body":"school."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":222.04,"endTime":224.56,"body":"I won't tell you"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":222.04,"endTime":224.56,"body":"where I applied. But I did apply"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":224.56,"endTime":228.16,"body":"to rabbinical school. And they"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":224.56,"endTime":228.16,"body":"said well, you don't speak and"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":228.16,"endTime":230.95,"body":"you don't know enough Hebrew. I"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":228.16,"endTime":230.95,"body":"really don't know if you can"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":230.95,"endTime":234.52,"body":"learn Hebrew adequately and so"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":230.95,"endTime":234.52,"body":"forth. So that pretty much close"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":234.52,"endTime":237.55,"body":"the door for me in my search. I"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":234.52,"endTime":237.55,"body":"was so frustrated."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":238.0,"endTime":242.11,"body":"when he was just 25"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":238.0,"endTime":242.11,"body":"years old. Steve weiner told"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":242.11,"endTime":245.5,"body":"himself that he was done for"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":242.11,"endTime":245.5,"body":"good with Judaism."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":245.59,"endTime":247.81,"body":"There was no"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":245.59,"endTime":247.81,"body":"reason for me to stay as a"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":247.81,"endTime":251.14,"body":"member of the Jewish community"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":247.81,"endTime":251.14,"body":"if I couldn't actively be a part"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":251.14,"endTime":251.44,"body":"of it."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":251.59,"endTime":254.17,"body":"It wasn't until"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":251.59,"endTime":254.17,"body":"decades later that he met the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":254.2,"endTime":258.1,"body":"Chabad Shliach who opened the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":254.2,"endTime":258.1,"body":"door of Jewish learning, Jewish"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":258.1,"endTime":262.69,"body":"living and inclusion wide enough"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":258.1,"endTime":262.69,"body":"for Steve to even consider a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":262.69,"endTime":263.41,"body":"return."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":269.15,"endTime":274.01,"body":"Yehoshua Soudakoff was born in"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":269.15,"endTime":274.01,"body":"May 1991 To deaf parents."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":274.07,"endTime":276.47,"body":"My"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":274.07,"endTime":276.47,"body":"mother's family did not have"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":276.47,"endTime":280.28,"body":"deaf people in it. Nor did my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":276.47,"endTime":280.28,"body":"father's they were each the only"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":280.28,"endTime":281.75,"body":"deaf member of their families."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":281.78,"endTime":284.81,"body":"Soudakoff is also"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":281.78,"endTime":284.81,"body":"being translated by Jessica Ames"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":284.81,"endTime":288.2,"body":"and Craig Fogle, with Craig"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":284.81,"endTime":288.2,"body":"reading Soudakoffs answers"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":288.26,"endTime":289.91,"body":"and so"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":288.26,"endTime":289.91,"body":"they expected that their kids"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":289.91,"endTime":292.97,"body":"would not be deaf that their"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":289.91,"endTime":292.97,"body":"kids would be hearing and go"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":292.97,"endTime":294.83,"body":"figure. I was born."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":295.4,"endTime":299.54,"body":"I didn't respond to noises in my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":295.4,"endTime":299.54,"body":"environment. I responded to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":299.57,"endTime":303.92,"body":"visual stimuli and I was tested,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":299.57,"endTime":303.92,"body":"and they found out I was deaf"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":303.95,"endTime":305.36,"body":"and their lives were changed"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":305.39,"endTime":308.72,"body":"the Soudakoffs next"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":305.39,"endTime":308.72,"body":"four children were deaf, too."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":309.11,"endTime":312.14,"body":"their parents had experienced"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":309.11,"endTime":312.14,"body":"difficulties in hearing"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":312.14,"endTime":315.44,"body":"classrooms. So they knew that"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":312.14,"endTime":315.44,"body":"they needed to fight hard to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":315.44,"endTime":317.93,"body":"ensure a proper education for"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":315.44,"endTime":317.93,"body":"their children."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":318.38,"endTime":322.46,"body":"So when Yahushua was just six"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":318.38,"endTime":322.46,"body":"years old, the Soudakoffs moved"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":322.46,"endTime":325.61,"body":"from their home in LA to the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":322.46,"endTime":325.61,"body":"valley, so that he could be in a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":325.61,"endTime":327.83,"body":"program that was suitable to his"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":325.61,"endTime":327.83,"body":"needs."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":328.17,"endTime":331.17,"body":"When he began kindergarten"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":328.17,"endTime":331.17,"body":"there, he found himself in a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":331.17,"endTime":334.86,"body":"class with 20 hearing kids, and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":331.17,"endTime":334.86,"body":"10 Deaf children."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":334.98,"endTime":338.07,"body":"In my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":334.98,"endTime":338.07,"body":"school, there were teachers, a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":338.07,"endTime":341.13,"body":"hearing teacher who spoke"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":338.07,"endTime":341.13,"body":"English and a teacher who"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":341.13,"endTime":345.63,"body":"signed, and so there was a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":341.13,"endTime":345.63,"body":"signing environment that was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":345.63,"endTime":348.3,"body":"really conducive to a proper"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":345.63,"endTime":348.3,"body":"education."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":348.39,"endTime":350.7,"body":"And when it came to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":348.39,"endTime":350.7,"body":"a Jewish education,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":350.76,"endTime":352.71,"body":"my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":350.76,"endTime":352.71,"body":"parents were traditional, not"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":352.71,"endTime":355.77,"body":"very religious, but they valued"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":352.71,"endTime":355.77,"body":"the traditions and wanted to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":355.77,"endTime":357.42,"body":"bring me up with the Jewish"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":355.77,"endTime":357.42,"body":"life."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":357.54,"endTime":360.33,"body":"The Soudakoffs"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":357.54,"endTime":360.33,"body":"observed holidays at home, and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":360.33,"endTime":363.48,"body":"Yehoshua and his siblings"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":360.33,"endTime":363.48,"body":"learned family stories passed"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":363.48,"endTime":367.35,"body":"down through the generations,"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":363.48,"endTime":367.35,"body":"but he had no formal religious"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":367.35,"endTime":368.22,"body":"education."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":371.13,"endTime":374.25,"body":"But there was a very special bar"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":371.13,"endTime":374.25,"body":"mitzvah"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":374.28,"endTime":375.87,"body":"for"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":374.28,"endTime":375.87,"body":"that experience. My parents"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":375.87,"endTime":379.14,"body":"hired a private tutor who taught"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":375.87,"endTime":379.14,"body":"me to read Hebrew and read from"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":379.14,"endTime":384.27,"body":"the Torah. And so I learned the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":379.14,"endTime":384.27,"body":"fundamentals of basic Hebrew"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":384.27,"endTime":385.41,"body":"from that tutor."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":386.67,"endTime":389.37,"body":"You had your Bar"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":386.67,"endTime":389.37,"body":"Mitzvah at the Kotel, that must"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":389.37,"endTime":393.03,"body":"have been an amazing experience"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":389.37,"endTime":393.03,"body":"for you and your family and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":393.03,"endTime":393.66,"body":"friends."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":393.96,"endTime":395.82,"body":"Oh,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":393.96,"endTime":395.82,"body":"absolutely incredible"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":395.82,"endTime":399.45,"body":"experience. It happens on my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":395.82,"endTime":399.45,"body":"first trip to Israel, I'll never"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":399.45,"endTime":402.36,"body":"forget it. I remember being 13"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":399.45,"endTime":402.36,"body":"years old and touching down in"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":402.36,"endTime":405.72,"body":"the Holy Land and thinking, My"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":402.36,"endTime":405.72,"body":"goodness, everyone here is"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":405.72,"endTime":410.1,"body":"Jewish like me. Everywhere I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":405.72,"endTime":410.1,"body":"went, it was astounding. I had"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":410.1,"endTime":412.17,"body":"never had that experience"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":410.1,"endTime":412.17,"body":"before."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":413.38,"endTime":416.56,"body":"The young Soudakoff"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":413.38,"endTime":416.56,"body":"was developing a new passion for"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":416.56,"endTime":417.4,"body":"Judaism."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":417.48,"endTime":419.67,"body":"After"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":417.48,"endTime":419.67,"body":"my Bar Mitzvah, I returned home."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":420.21,"endTime":424.38,"body":"And back to my public school."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":420.21,"endTime":424.38,"body":"You know, for many children,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":424.41,"endTime":428.85,"body":"Jewish education stops after the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":424.41,"endTime":428.85,"body":"bar mitzvah. But for me, I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":428.85,"endTime":431.85,"body":"thought, you know, I'm just"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":428.85,"endTime":431.85,"body":"getting started. Why is it over"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":431.85,"endTime":436.08,"body":"already, I wanted to continue to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":431.85,"endTime":436.08,"body":"learn I was eager to learn more."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":436.6,"endTime":440.89,"body":"So there was an after school"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":436.6,"endTime":440.89,"body":"religious program or Hebrew"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":440.89,"endTime":444.28,"body":"education program, where there"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":440.89,"endTime":444.28,"body":"was access through an"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":444.28,"endTime":448.3,"body":"interpreter that my parents had"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":444.28,"endTime":448.3,"body":"to fight for. And the school"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":448.3,"endTime":451.33,"body":"district paid for that for an"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":448.3,"endTime":451.33,"body":"interpreter, who had enough"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":451.33,"endTime":455.35,"body":"knowledge of Judaica to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":451.33,"endTime":455.35,"body":"interpret in that setting. And"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":455.35,"endTime":458.86,"body":"so I did that for a while, but I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":455.35,"endTime":458.86,"body":"wasn't satisfied."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":459.16,"endTime":462.01,"body":"Earlier, we heard"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":459.16,"endTime":462.01,"body":"Steve weiner say that he felt as"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":462.01,"endTime":466.12,"body":"if he was learning behind a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":462.01,"endTime":466.12,"body":"wall. Yahushua Soudakoff says"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":466.3,"endTime":468.76,"body":"that he felt like he was living"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":466.3,"endTime":468.76,"body":"in a bubble."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":468.94,"endTime":471.16,"body":"Most"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":468.94,"endTime":471.16,"body":"Deaf Jewish people have"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":471.16,"endTime":474.79,"body":"absolutely no access to their"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":471.16,"endTime":474.79,"body":"religion or their heritage,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":475.09,"endTime":478.3,"body":"because their parents and their"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":475.09,"endTime":478.3,"body":"grandparents think, \"Oh, it's"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":478.3,"endTime":481.69,"body":"too hard to communicate\", or"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":478.3,"endTime":481.69,"body":"\"the concepts are too complex\"."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":481.72,"endTime":483.97,"body":"\"I can't explain it to you\""},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":481.72,"endTime":483.97,"body":"\"there's a language barrier\""},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":484.27,"endTime":486.52,"body":"\"We'll tell you when you're"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":484.27,"endTime":486.52,"body":"older\", \"you don't need to know"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":486.52,"endTime":487.72,"body":"it's not that important\"."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":487.99,"endTime":490.9,"body":"Often it was too hard to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":487.99,"endTime":490.9,"body":"communicate some of the richer"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":490.9,"endTime":494.5,"body":"concepts and traditions because"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":490.9,"endTime":494.5,"body":"of the language barriers."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":495.19,"endTime":498.43,"body":"And what happens is, those"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":495.19,"endTime":498.43,"body":"Jewish children grow up into"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":498.43,"endTime":502.21,"body":"adults who don't feel connected"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":498.43,"endTime":502.21,"body":"to their heritage at all."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":504.04,"endTime":507.04,"body":"But Soudakoff"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":504.04,"endTime":507.04,"body":"wanted more connection. He"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":507.04,"endTime":510.19,"body":"applied to three Hebrew high"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":507.04,"endTime":510.19,"body":"schools in Los Angeles. ,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":510.33,"endTime":512.61,"body":"Of"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":510.33,"endTime":512.61,"body":"those three schools. How many"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":512.7,"endTime":516.36,"body":"were eager to have me attend?"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":512.7,"endTime":516.36,"body":"What do you think, Gary? I see"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":516.36,"endTime":519.6,"body":"Gary holding up three fingers."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":516.36,"endTime":519.6,"body":"Yes, all of them were eager to"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":519.6,"endTime":523.62,"body":"have me. But I couldn't go"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":519.6,"endTime":523.62,"body":"because it wasn't accessible."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":524.01,"endTime":527.1,"body":"None of them would provide sign"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":524.01,"endTime":527.1,"body":"language interpretation, that"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":527.1,"endTime":531.15,"body":"accommodation is too expensive"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":527.1,"endTime":531.15,"body":"for most families. And so it was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":531.15,"endTime":531.84,"body":"untenable."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":532.02,"endTime":538.92,"body":"And my experience is just one"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":532.02,"endTime":538.92,"body":"example of the obstacles there"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":538.92,"endTime":542.97,"body":"are to Jewish Deaf education."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":538.92,"endTime":542.97,"body":"There certainly are people who"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":542.97,"endTime":547.05,"body":"want it. There are people who"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":542.97,"endTime":547.05,"body":"want to provide it. But bridging"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":547.05,"endTime":549.15,"body":"that gap still remains an issue."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":549.6,"endTime":552.06,"body":"That's when I heard about the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":549.6,"endTime":552.06,"body":"yeshiva in Toronto."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":554.1,"endTime":557.67,"body":"That yeshiva is"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":554.1,"endTime":557.67,"body":"nefesh dovid. It's dedicated to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":557.67,"endTime":559.83,"body":"young Jewish men with hearing"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":557.67,"endTime":559.83,"body":"loss."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":559.9,"endTime":562.39,"body":"I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":559.9,"endTime":562.39,"body":"found out that as a deaf person,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":562.39,"endTime":565.9,"body":"I could be successful there. And"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":562.39,"endTime":565.9,"body":"I was very excited by that"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":565.93,"endTime":566.8,"body":"prospect."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":566.9,"endTime":572.6,"body":"So I went to go visit, flew up"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":566.9,"endTime":572.6,"body":"there to visit and was amazed."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":572.93,"endTime":576.98,"body":"There were so many deaf people"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":572.93,"endTime":576.98,"body":"just like me, Deaf Jews, Deaf"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":576.98,"endTime":580.37,"body":"religious Jews, who I could"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":576.98,"endTime":580.37,"body":"identify with. Young people! And"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":580.37,"endTime":582.38,"body":"I felt suddenly not so alone."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":583.1,"endTime":587.96,"body":"I returned home, and I bugged my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":583.1,"endTime":587.96,"body":"parents to death to please send"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":587.96,"endTime":590.78,"body":"me and let me go, but they"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":587.96,"endTime":590.78,"body":"wanted me to stay close to home."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":591.62,"endTime":595.82,"body":"I persisted though, I really"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":591.62,"endTime":595.82,"body":"wanted to go and over the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":595.82,"endTime":599.72,"body":"summer, I eventually convinced"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":595.82,"endTime":599.72,"body":"them, and they sent me on my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":599.72,"endTime":600.2,"body":"way."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":600.41,"endTime":603.62,"body":"Yehoshua received"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":600.41,"endTime":603.62,"body":"his first real Jewish education"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":603.83,"endTime":605.06,"body":"at nefesh dovid."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":605.54,"endTime":609.68,"body":"there, he felt completely"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":605.54,"endTime":609.68,"body":"connected to Judaism. Yehoshua"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":609.68,"endTime":613.52,"body":"and his fellow students even"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":609.68,"endTime":613.52,"body":"helped invent ASL signs for"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":613.52,"endTime":614.75,"body":"Gemara terms."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":615.14,"endTime":617.03,"body":"So how did you go about doing"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":615.14,"endTime":617.03,"body":"that?"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":617.3,"endTime":619.76,"body":"So as"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":617.3,"endTime":619.76,"body":"a student at Yeshiva, I was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":619.76,"endTime":622.91,"body":"surrounded by students who came"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":619.76,"endTime":622.91,"body":"from many different places,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":623.15,"endTime":627.2,"body":"there were some from America,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":623.15,"endTime":627.2,"body":"some from Israel, some from"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":627.2,"endTime":631.97,"body":"France, South America. And so"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":627.2,"endTime":631.97,"body":"each of them came with their own"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":632.0,"endTime":636.02,"body":"native sign languages. The"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":632.0,"endTime":636.02,"body":"language of instruction was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":636.02,"endTime":640.04,"body":"American Sign Language. So we"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":636.02,"endTime":640.04,"body":"weren't taught in Hebrew, but"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":640.07,"endTime":644.72,"body":"the texts were in Hebrew. So I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":640.07,"endTime":644.72,"body":"read Hebrew texts, and didn't"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":644.72,"endTime":647.24,"body":"have the signs for that"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":644.72,"endTime":647.24,"body":"vocabulary."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":647.3,"endTime":652.01,"body":"So we began to experiment and"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":647.3,"endTime":652.01,"body":"play with language, and come up"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":652.01,"endTime":654.23,"body":"with signs for the Gemara terms."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":654.53,"endTime":657.44,"body":"Okay, but please"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":654.53,"endTime":657.44,"body":"give me an example of how that"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":657.44,"endTime":658.04,"body":"works."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":658.4,"endTime":660.29,"body":"When I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":658.4,"endTime":660.29,"body":"think of the word Gemara, I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":660.29,"endTime":665.0,"body":"think of an old man davening,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":660.29,"endTime":665.0,"body":"leaning over a book, you know,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":665.03,"endTime":669.59,"body":"tearing through the pages of the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":665.03,"endTime":669.59,"body":"Talmud, looking for knowledge."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":670.07,"endTime":675.08,"body":"And so the sign became the sign"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":670.07,"endTime":675.08,"body":"of a thumb, turning a page,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":675.41,"endTime":678.86,"body":"because that's what it looked"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":675.41,"endTime":678.86,"body":"like in my mind when I thought"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":678.86,"endTime":682.16,"body":"of the word. And so we came up"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":678.86,"endTime":682.16,"body":"with signs like that for the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":682.16,"endTime":686.63,"body":"images that those words conjured"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":682.16,"endTime":686.63,"body":"up. And so that's how we had"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":686.63,"endTime":689.9,"body":"access to those Hebrew texts in"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":686.63,"endTime":689.9,"body":"sign language."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":690.89,"endTime":694.01,"body":"Those three years in yeshiva, I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":690.89,"endTime":694.01,"body":"would say, three of the best"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":694.01,"endTime":695.09,"body":"years of my life."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":696.62,"endTime":699.56,"body":"Yehoshua finished"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":696.62,"endTime":699.56,"body":"yeshiva and returned to LA."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":699.71,"endTime":702.74,"body":"And I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":699.71,"endTime":702.74,"body":"realize what I experienced, was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":702.74,"endTime":706.1,"body":"actually quite different from"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":702.74,"endTime":706.1,"body":"that of the experience of most"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":706.13,"endTime":707.78,"body":"Jewish Deaf individuals."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":708.47,"endTime":712.1,"body":"And I realized, because I was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":708.47,"endTime":712.1,"body":"fortunate enough to learn so"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":712.1,"endTime":714.74,"body":"much, I wanted to pay it forward"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":712.1,"endTime":714.74,"body":"and share that with other"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":714.74,"endTime":719.33,"body":"people. So friends of mine"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":714.74,"endTime":719.33,"body":"started making video vlogs in"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":719.33,"endTime":723.05,"body":"sign language, where we would"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":719.33,"endTime":723.05,"body":"share stories and information,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":723.41,"endTime":728.21,"body":"and they just caught fire."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":723.41,"endTime":728.21,"body":"People were so excited to learn"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":728.21,"endTime":732.17,"body":"things that most people take for"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":728.21,"endTime":732.17,"body":"granted, but deaf people just"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":732.17,"endTime":736.25,"body":"never had access to. And because"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":732.17,"endTime":736.25,"body":"they were popular, we kept"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":736.25,"endTime":737.09,"body":"making more."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":737.39,"endTime":742.25,"body":"There was a deep need for access"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":737.39,"endTime":742.25,"body":"to education, about the Jewish"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":742.25,"endTime":746.24,"body":"religion and Jewish customs and"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":742.25,"endTime":746.24,"body":"traditions in sign language. And"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":746.24,"endTime":750.02,"body":"that blossomed into community"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":746.24,"endTime":750.02,"body":"programs and in person"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":750.02,"endTime":751.13,"body":"interactions."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":751.55,"endTime":754.64,"body":"For me, the calling was clear. I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":751.55,"endTime":754.64,"body":"knew what I wanted to do. I knew"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":754.64,"endTime":757.91,"body":"what I had to do, because I saw"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":754.64,"endTime":757.91,"body":"there was a need, and there was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":757.91,"endTime":761.96,"body":"a desire. It was, it was my"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":757.91,"endTime":761.96,"body":"calling. It really was a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":761.96,"endTime":762.68,"body":"calling."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":763.17,"endTime":765.96,"body":"When Soudakoff was"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":763.17,"endTime":765.96,"body":"younger, his parents told him"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":765.96,"endTime":769.26,"body":"that he'd become a lawyer. He"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":765.96,"endTime":769.26,"body":"went along with that for a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":769.26,"endTime":769.77,"body":"while."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":769.83,"endTime":772.71,"body":"And I"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":769.83,"endTime":772.71,"body":"got older and realized, no,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":772.74,"endTime":775.2,"body":"that's not what I want. I want"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":772.74,"endTime":775.2,"body":"to be a rabbi."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":775.41,"endTime":779.01,"body":"Soudakoff applied"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":775.41,"endTime":779.01,"body":"to and was accepted by Chovevei"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":779.01,"endTime":782.37,"body":"Torah in Crown Heights,"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":779.01,"endTime":782.37,"body":"Brooklyn. it was there that he"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":782.37,"endTime":784.77,"body":"found his place in the Chabad"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":782.37,"endTime":784.77,"body":"universe."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":784.86,"endTime":789.75,"body":"He said it was a perfect fit for"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":784.86,"endTime":789.75,"body":"him and all his fellow students."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":789.81,"endTime":794.34,"body":"And what we did was in class,"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":789.81,"endTime":794.34,"body":"the teachers would interact with"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":794.34,"endTime":798.45,"body":"me in a group, but after class,"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":794.34,"endTime":798.45,"body":"they would spend extra time with"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":798.45,"endTime":802.86,"body":"me and write notes back and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":798.45,"endTime":802.86,"body":"forth with me with pen and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":802.86,"endTime":803.49,"body":"paper."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":803.76,"endTime":806.37,"body":"I am"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":803.76,"endTime":806.37,"body":"so grateful to those teachers"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":806.37,"endTime":809.94,"body":"who made the effort to really"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":806.37,"endTime":809.94,"body":"include me and make the program"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":809.94,"endTime":814.14,"body":"accessible. It was hard."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":809.94,"endTime":814.14,"body":"Basically they did twice what"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":814.14,"endTime":815.28,"body":"was required of them."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":815.34,"endTime":820.62,"body":"Yahushua Soudakoff became a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":815.34,"endTime":820.62,"body":"rabbi in 2013. By now he was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":820.62,"endTime":823.53,"body":"brimming with Jewish knowledge"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":820.62,"endTime":823.53,"body":"and reaching members of the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":823.53,"endTime":825.81,"body":"Jewish Deaf community around the"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":823.53,"endTime":825.81,"body":"world."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":828.66,"endTime":830.64,"body":"Here's a story"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":828.66,"endTime":830.64,"body":"about one of them."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":831.06,"endTime":836.13,"body":"Around 2010, Steve Wiener, the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":831.06,"endTime":836.13,"body":"man who three decades before had"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":836.13,"endTime":839.58,"body":"walked away from the Jewish"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":836.13,"endTime":839.58,"body":"community, met Rabbi Soudakoff"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":839.58,"endTime":842.91,"body":"for the first time. He doesn't"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":839.58,"endTime":842.91,"body":"remember the exact"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":842.91,"endTime":846.42,"body":"circumstances. But over the next"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":842.91,"endTime":846.42,"body":"couple of years, they were"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":846.42,"endTime":849.84,"body":"meeting from time to time at the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":846.42,"endTime":849.84,"body":"Washington society for the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":849.84,"endTime":853.89,"body":"Jewish deaf and the Jewish deaf"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":849.84,"endTime":853.89,"body":"Foundation, which Soudakoff"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":853.89,"endTime":854.61,"body":"founded."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":855.0,"endTime":858.93,"body":"Steve was beginning to feel more"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":855.0,"endTime":858.93,"body":"connected to Jewish life, but"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":858.93,"endTime":862.11,"body":"his wife and kids weren't"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":858.93,"endTime":862.11,"body":"Jewish, and he wasn't sure he"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":862.11,"endTime":864.36,"body":"was ready to come all the way"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":862.11,"endTime":864.36,"body":"back."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":864.84,"endTime":869.64,"body":"But in 2012, their paths would"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":864.84,"endTime":869.64,"body":"cross in a more significant way."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":870.03,"endTime":873.93,"body":"Soudakoff had been communicating"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":870.03,"endTime":873.93,"body":"with Washington DC Rabbi LEvi"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":873.96,"endTime":878.31,"body":"Shemtov about the possibility of"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":873.96,"endTime":878.31,"body":"establishing a new Chabad house"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":878.31,"endTime":879.12,"body":"in the area,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":879.18,"endTime":881.82,"body":"and"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":879.18,"endTime":881.82,"body":"Rabbi Shemtov suggested why not"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":881.82,"endTime":885.3,"body":"have a big public Hanukkah"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":881.82,"endTime":885.3,"body":"celebration with a chanukiah"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":885.3,"endTime":885.75,"body":"lighting?"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":885.81,"endTime":889.08,"body":"Soudakoff loved the"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":885.81,"endTime":889.08,"body":"idea, and he wanted to include"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":889.08,"endTime":892.02,"body":"deaf Jews, and he knew where to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":889.08,"endTime":892.02,"body":"find them."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":892.48,"endTime":895.15,"body":"There"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":892.48,"endTime":895.15,"body":"are pockets of Deaf communities"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":895.18,"endTime":899.14,"body":"around America and there's a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":895.18,"endTime":899.14,"body":"very large one in Washington DC"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":899.14,"endTime":904.27,"body":"near Gallaudet, university."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":899.14,"endTime":904.27,"body":"Gallaudet University is the only"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":904.3,"endTime":907.84,"body":"institution of higher learning"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":904.3,"endTime":907.84,"body":"for deaf and hard of hearing"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":907.84,"endTime":908.41,"body":"people."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":908.47,"endTime":911.23,"body":"Most of Gallaudet"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":908.47,"endTime":911.23,"body":"students, faculty and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":911.23,"endTime":915.04,"body":"administrators are deaf, and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":911.23,"endTime":915.04,"body":"Soudakoff knew that many of them"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":915.04,"endTime":919.24,"body":"were Jews, including then"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":915.04,"endTime":919.24,"body":"President Alan Hurwitz. But when"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":919.24,"endTime":922.54,"body":"Shemtov shared the idea to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":919.24,"endTime":922.54,"body":"organize a menorah lighting, it"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":922.54,"endTime":926.35,"body":"was only a week before Hanukkah."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":922.54,"endTime":926.35,"body":"There wasn't a lot of time to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":926.35,"endTime":927.7,"body":"plan the celebration."},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":927.76,"endTime":930.64,"body":"However,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":927.76,"endTime":930.64,"body":"the following year, we started"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":930.64,"endTime":935.08,"body":"planning much earlier. We began"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":930.64,"endTime":935.08,"body":"months in advance, contacting"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":935.08,"endTime":938.68,"body":"members of the faculty and staff"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":935.08,"endTime":938.68,"body":"asking for permission to have a"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":938.68,"endTime":942.31,"body":"hanukkiah lighting. We even"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":938.68,"endTime":942.31,"body":"needed the provost to pitch in"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":942.31,"endTime":942.91,"body":"and help."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":943.33,"endTime":945.88,"body":"I wanted to make"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":943.33,"endTime":945.88,"body":"this happen. I wanted it to be"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":945.88,"endTime":946.75,"body":"successful."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":946.81,"endTime":950.38,"body":"So Soudakoff made an appointment"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":946.81,"endTime":950.38,"body":"with Gallaudet's Provost,"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":950.44,"endTime":952.42,"body":"and"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":950.44,"endTime":952.42,"body":"the provost at the time was"},{"speaker":"Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff","startTime":952.42,"endTime":953.23,"body":"Steve weiner."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":954.46,"endTime":958.03,"body":"Wiener had excelled"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":954.46,"endTime":958.03,"body":"academically, earning a PhD in"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":958.03,"endTime":961.33,"body":"education from American"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":958.03,"endTime":961.33,"body":"University and working as a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":961.33,"endTime":966.28,"body":"Professor Dean, and now a"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":961.33,"endTime":966.28,"body":"provost at Gallaudet, but his"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":966.28,"endTime":970.42,"body":"life would soon change courtesy"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":966.28,"endTime":970.42,"body":"of the Chabad Shliach, who had"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":970.42,"endTime":974.26,"body":"already become a force within"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":970.42,"endTime":974.26,"body":"the Jewish Deaf world."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":974.35,"endTime":976.69,"body":"And Rabbi"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":974.35,"endTime":976.69,"body":"Soudakoff stopped by my office"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":976.69,"endTime":977.92,"body":"not long after."},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":979.18,"endTime":982.9,"body":"And I just thought, this is a"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":979.18,"endTime":982.9,"body":"message from Hashem. \"He's been"},{"speaker":"Steve Weiner","startTime":982.9,"endTime":985.24,"body":"sent here to come talk to me\"."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":991.78,"endTime":994.66,"body":"the story of what"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":991.78,"endTime":994.66,"body":"happens next will be presented"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":994.66,"endTime":997.21,"body":"in Episode 14 of Lamplighters."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":997.57,"endTime":1000.99,"body":"A full transcript of this"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":997.57,"endTime":1000.99,"body":"episode can be found on"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1001.02,"endTime":1002.58,"body":"lubavitch.com."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1006.69,"endTime":1007.68,"body":"I'm Gary Waleik."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1007.68,"endTime":1011.16,"body":"Thanks for listening to"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1007.68,"endTime":1011.16,"body":"Lamplighters stories from Chabad"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1011.16,"endTime":1013.2,"body":"emissaries on the Jewish"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1011.16,"endTime":1013.2,"body":"frontier."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1016.77,"endTime":1019.92,"body":"We welcome your questions and"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1016.77,"endTime":1019.92,"body":"comments about what you've just"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1019.92,"endTime":1023.01,"body":"heard on Lamplighters. Please"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1019.92,"endTime":1023.01,"body":"email us at"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1023.01,"endTime":1027.09,"body":"podcast@lubavitch.com. And if"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1023.01,"endTime":1027.09,"body":"you know of a great story"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1027.09,"endTime":1030.63,"body":"involving Chabad emissaries or"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1027.09,"endTime":1030.63,"body":"the people they inspire, please"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1030.63,"endTime":1038.58,"body":"let us know about them. That's"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1030.63,"endTime":1038.58,"body":"podcast@lubavitch.com."},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1043.76,"endTime":1047.09,"body":"This is a Lubavitch"},{"speaker":"Gary Waleik","startTime":1043.76,"endTime":1047.09,"body":"international podcast."}]}