Yes I know that the singles shabbatonim are meant to meet new people – I used to be single too And for longer than you were, and in two different countries!

But that wasn’t my point. My point was – why? Why do singles constantly have to meet new people when we hardly “know” the people that we already know? I have to wonder how people ever got married when they lived in small villages and weren’t able to travel much further than a village or two north, south, east, or west.

I was the kind of single (and married, and whatever) that finds it very difficult to just strike up a conversation. I am on the introvert side of the scale, and based on everything of yours that I’ve read (and I like your stuff a lot), I can tell that you are way over on the extrovert side of the scale. Lucky for you, extroverts are much more fun! Even to us introverts.

Why is knowing most of them a bad thing? It sounds like a good thing to me – much easier to start up a conversation that might lead somewhere!

I think you are mixing two different parts of my comment into one. I said there were shabbatons for disabled people in general. Then I mentioned a group (separate from that above, although they do fall under the same umbrella group) that matches up Jewish Deaf people with each other. Just deaf, not other disabilities.

The fact is, most deaf people marry other deaf people. I’ve seen statistics about 9 out of 10 deaf people marry deaf people) Out of the many deaf people I know, I only know of one who married a hearing person. (I’m talking deaf to the point of relying on hearing aids, sign language, etc.) Yes, I know there are others as well, I don’t claim to know every single deaf person out there.

The problem is that many Jewish deaf people wind up marrying non-Jewish deaf people. They identify more strongly as a deaf person than as a Jewish person. Deaf Culture is very strong. The group I mentioned is at least trying to keep Jews marrying Jews.

Now with the popularity of Cochlear Implants, this may very well change. I’m also not saying that there is anything wrong with deaf and hearing people marrying. As I mentioned before, I think part of it is the deaf cultural issue. I think another part is the language (i.e. Sign language). I also find that there are times that hearing people just don’t understand the frustration that deaf people have. I.e. when I miss something in a conversation, people say “Oh, it wasn’t important” and refuse to repeat it. Well, it was important enough for you to say, wasn’t it?

Again, I’m not saying that means deaf can ONLY marry deaf. I’m just pointing out what usually happens. Should the trend be ignored, and thus wind up seeing even more Jewish deaf marry non-Jewish deaf because of it?