There have been deaf Jews throughout the over five thousand years of Judaism. There are an estimated 50,000 deaf Jews in the United States today. In all that time, there has never been an organized effort to train rabbis to communicate with this community until 1992, when the Hebrew Seminary was established. This unique, pluralistic, egalitarian rabbinical school for deaf and hearing women and men was founded to meet the needs of all Jewish communities, especially those traditionally underserved, such as people who are deaf and other Jewish minorities throughout the country.