One talmid’s words captured it best: “I’m deaf but even I can hear the tumult going on in Shamayim now”
Samuel Parker was born in Elmira, New York. As a baby, he contracted meningitis and subsequently lost his hearing. His disability notwithstanding, he persevered, earning an education, marrying, and raising two daughters in Frederick, Maryland, where he was employed at the Maryland School for the Deaf. Samuel passed away suddenly at just 42 years old, on the 15th day of Teves, 1975.
Mrs. Joely Bernstein of Toronto is one of the two daughters Samuel left behind, both of whom found their way back to Torah Judaism. She and her husband Shimmy are prominent supporters of Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid. Led by Rav Chaim Tzvi Kakon, the yeshivah is a shining jewel on Toronto’s yeshivah landscape and the only boys’ yeshivah high school in the world dedicated to boys with hearing impairments.
In an effort to show hakaras hatov to the Bernsteins, one bochur in the yeshivah, Shmaaya Dovid Friedman, completed all of maseches Berachos in memory of Samuel Parker on his 50th yahrtzeit.
The siyum was held in the Bernstein home this past Motzaei Shabbos, with students and staff in attendance. The following day the yeshivah made a trip to Elmira, New York, where Samuel is buried. A minyan was formed, Kaddish was recited, and words of hisorerus were shared.
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