In the 1980’s I taught in a program for the deaf at The High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan. I recognized faces in this article. Faces of former students who at that time were learning a trade along with academics. At graduation they were 21 years old. I was in my 30’s.

I see at least one of my former students in a photo of the choir and the video.

The woman in the video who is interviewed and leads the “choir” is one of my favorite former students. Now gray and middle aged, living her life, the years of being a student long gone.

My years of teaching long gone.

It’s enough to make one weepy, for those years of traveling hours on the subway to work, for years that appear to be so much more innocent in my mind’s eye. And for the time that has passed, aging those young people.

And aging myself.

It’s a sign of the times that houses of worship are closing, that congregations are melding. This church, St. Elizabeth’s should remain open. It is a very special place.

The article:
On the Upper East Side, Silent Prayers to Save a Sanctuary for the Deaf

Make sure you watch the video.