Our Way, the Orthodox Union’s program for the deaf and hard of hearing, will hold a Shabbaton in St. Louis on Oct. 19-20 at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion Congregation, 650 N. Price Road in Olivette.

Our Way — a division of the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities — is dedicated to providing resources, services and social programming for the Jewish deaf and hard of hearing. 

The Shabbaton will feature a deaf Torah scholar-in-residence, Yehoshua Soudakoff, and deaf host Andrew St. Cyr. Interpreting services will be provided by Sarah Rush. The event is coordinated by Rabbi Eliezer Lederfeind, director of Our Way.

Scholar-in-Residence Yehoshua Soudakoff, originally from Los Angeles, is currently a rabbinical student in Brooklyn, N.Y.  He comes from a second-generation deaf family and grew up with years of experience of involvement in the Jewish deaf community.  Yehoshua is also the director of Jewish Deaf Multimedia (www.jewishdeafmm.org), a website geared towards providing educational videos for deaf Jews. 

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The cost of the Shabbaton is $35 per person, with discounts for families and scholarships available.  Applications and checks (payable to Our Way Shabbaton) for reservations should be sent to Our Way, c/o Andrew St. Cyr, 12331 Lakepoint Drive, Maryland Heights, Mo. 63043. Andrew can be reached at 314-720-2511 or [email protected].