Hebrew Seminary Founder

Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer z”l

Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer z”l founded Hebrew Seminary: A Rabbinic School for the Deaf and Hearing in 1992, twenty years after he founded Congregation Bene Shalom with Chicago deaf leaders. Congregation Bene Shalom, located in Skokie, Illinois, was the first synagogue to provide equal parity for Deaf and hearing members. During that time he recognized the need for clergy who could serve the diverse communities of the Jewish world, so he recruited academic, religious and Jewish lay leaders to assist him in establishing a unique seminary that would welcome Deaf and hearing students, who would be able to serve these diverse Jewish communities. Rabbi Goldhamer was the founding president, Rosh Yeshivah and Professor of Jewish Mysticism at Hebrew Seminary until his death in 2022.

Rabbi Goldhamer received his Bachelor of Hebrew Law, Master of Hebrew Letters and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he was ordained as a rabbi. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Sir George Williams University, Montreal. His Ph.D. was in Medieval Philosophy from University of Chicago. He was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1945, and became a citizen of the United States in 2003.

In 1992, Rabbi Goldhamer was Scholar in Residence and Professor of Philosophy at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., the only liberal arts university for the Deaf in the United States.

During 1972-76, Rabbi Goldhamer served as the signing NBC newscaster for the Deaf on Chicago’s local Channel 5. He wrote a regular Torah commentary for the Chicago Jewish News. In his later years, he also became an accomplished artist, focusing on mystical and Biblical themes. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries across the United States.

In 2015, Rabbi Goldhamer wrote Healing With God’s Love: Kabbalah’s Hidden Secrets, which combines ancient Kabbalistic practices and meditations . He also co-authored  This is For Everyone: Universal Principles of Healing Prayer and the Jewish Mystics. In 2021, Rabbi Goldhamer was the subject of a documentary short, “Sign of the Times,” produced by Silver Screen Studios.

A Letter from Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer z”l

Hebrew Seminary is dedicated to training and educating men and women to become rabbis and teachers of both Deaf and hearing Jewish communities all over America.  To this end, we vigorously study and include in our curriculum the core rabbinic texts, such as the Talmud and its commentaries, the Midrash and its commentaries.  We also study in depth the Jewish Bible, with its medieval Hebrew commentaries.  Also, all our students are mandated to learn and be educated in American Sign Language (ASL), so that they might be able to communicate with Deaf families in their community.

At Hebrew Seminary, our students learn to practice Judaism like the Baal Shem Tov. He taught that a Jew should strive to attain devekut, attachment to God, not only through fasting and ritual practice, but also through dance, joyful prayer, singing, signing and becoming one with God and the Hebrew letters and language. We vigorously include all who want to become rabbis and who would love to serve the many Jewish communities in America, including Jewish communities and individuals who have been disenfranchised from Judaism, for either halachic or social reasons.

We are proud to achieve Ruach HaKodesh in the modern age. We strive to achieve the Holy Spirit so that we might learn how to hear the Voice of God, not with our ears but with our souls.  We know it is possible to hear God in contemporary times. And we do this through prayer and the different kinds of meditative practice that our great spiritual scholars have written into the Jewish tradition. We do this through an in-depth study of the Kabbalah and the different healing texts that are associated and part of the mystical tradition.

Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer, z’l
May, 2018