Moshe Shem Tov

Moshe Shem Tov was born in 1924 in Bulgaria

Moshe Shem Tov was born in Bulgaria in 1924. He was deaf, and he immigrated to Israel on July 31, 1948. He learned Hebrew and joined the Deaf community in Israel.

He married Pnina, and they had 2 hearing children. He lived in Bat Yam and ran a business in Jaffa with his hearing brother, making and installing shutters and windows. He also knew the sign language of Algerian Jews.

From 1972 to 1989 he chaired the Association of the Deaf in Israel. He kept in contact with Jewish and international Deaf organizations and represented the association in the World Federation of the Deaf. He approved leadership courses for young Deaf people, run with the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

In 1973 the association held the Fourth International Conference on Deafness Problems in Bat Yam. In 1974 he agreed to drop the word mute from the association's name. In 1984 he organized the first Deaf protest outside the Knesset, demanding recognition of deaf people as disabled.

After leaving the association's leadership, he kept helping Deaf people who came to his workplace. He died in 2005.