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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF RABBI DOUGLAS GOLDHAMER
WHEREAS, Rabbi Goldhamer, founder of Bene Shalom Synagogue in Skokie, died of heart failure on February 3, 2022 at Evanston Hospital. He was 76; and
WHEREAS, Rabbi Goldhamer was born in Montreal, the son of Harry and Jean Goldhamer. His father, born in Germany, immigrated to Canada before World War II, as did his mother, who came from Russia. Rabbi Goldhamer got his bachelor's degree in political science from Montreal's Sir George Williams University and a doctorate in medieval philosophy from the University of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in 1945, when he was 30 days old, doctors used radiation to remove a birthmark from one of his hands. But they got distracted and left him exposed to the radiation for too long. The whole left side of his body was burned with radiation burns. It caused severe pain and required more than a dozen surgeries. In later years, as he reflected on that time he saw there was a reason for him to have all of those surgeries and all those radiation burns - the reason being for him to be sensitive to other people; and
WHEREAS, Rabbi Goldhamer founded Congregation Bene Shalom with the Hebrew Association for the Deaf in 1972. Though not deaf himself, he began visiting Chicago to serve deaf members of the Jewish community when he was a student at Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College. These students began teaching him sign language. For several years in the 1970s, he communicated the news in sign language on WMAQ-TV during the "Today" show; and
WHEREAS, Bene Shalom began with only 11 families and about $125 in the bank. Rabbi Goldhamer wanted deaf members of the Jewish community to feel welcome and included. Today, it remains the only full-service synagogue serving the deaf Jewish community in the United States; and
WHEREAS, during services, Rabbi Goldhamer would address his congregants in English, Hebrew and sign language. When the shofar was blown at Rosh Ha...
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