History was made in Barnet United Synagogue on Shabbat Chazon Devarim, 4 Av 5786, 18 July 2026 with the first ‘Deaf Shul’ service at at Orthodox synagogue.
The Jewish Deaf Association in conjunction with Barnet shul welcomed JDA staff, volunteers and members of the deaf community to hold a full orthodox shul service with adjustments for deaf people making it accessible for deaf members and guests.
The Shul itself was laid out with a side-by-side mechitza so that men and women could sit in the front rows to clearly see the BSL (British Sign Language) signing of the prayer service (in both Hebrew and English), as well as the sermon, communal prayers and Shul announcements
In addition to sign language interpreters, other adjustments included reserved seating for lip readers and printouts of key texts including the sermon.
Key highlights included a Hebrew-speaking interpreter who live-translated the Torah reading to BSL which was of value to deaf-blind participants who may find it hard to otherwise follow the text. Barnet shul’s trademark explanatory comments made between aliyot (call-ups to the Torah) were also live translated into BSL.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lister began his sermon by signing “Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Barnet Shul”.
Janine Greensite, head of Deaf Services at JDA, spoke about how warm the welcome in Barnet was. She hoped this would be the start of many such services. One deaf participant said that they had not been to shul since they were a child and greatly enjoyed the service.
Deaf awareness featured heavily in the children service also with a focus on senses and communication. The children loved learning how to sign their initials using BSL finger spelling. They sang and signed our welcome Shabbat Shalom song to each other and used Makaton to sing the first line of the Shema. The children were joined by Barnet shul member, Judith Saffer, who taught them BSL signs for challah, candles and kiddush wine for our songs and how to sign animals for their game. Later in story corner, the children listened to a lovely story thinking about deaf awareness while the children munched through the delicious kiddush.
Following the service, a kiddush brought together members of the Deaf community and the Barnet community, who enjoyed the opportunity to meet and socialise with the support of BSL interpreters.