Woodside_park Synagogue

Jewish Womens Aid and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Jewish Women's Aid is running a campaign in the Jewish press to highlight the hidden issue of domestic violence in the Jewish community. The campaign marks IDEVAW - the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

1 in 4 women will experience some form of domestic abuse in their lifetime (Council of Europe, 2002) and women in the Jewish community are no different. This was confirmed by the results of an independent survey carried out earlier this year by JWA where 55% of respondents indicated they knew someone who had experienced domestic abuse.

We have a helpline staffed by 56 volunteers. When women call our helpline we refer them to other JWA services - counselling, outreach, children and young people's service, and refuge. Our refuge, the only kosher one in Europe, accommodates eight women and their children. JWA's outreach service offers support and advice to women in the community on a range of issues including welfare benefits and housing. Our client base has doubled in numbers over the last year and this service is provided to women across the whole of the UK.

Education is key to eliminating domestic violence, and our education programmes reach over 2000 children in Jewish and mainstream secondary schools. Programmes work to increase awareness of domestic violence and provide support for young people with related issues. We provide training to professionals in and outside of the Jewish community, providing enhanced resources to women seeking support.

Things aren't always what they seem. The experience of abuse is a secret kept by women and children too ashamed and embarrassed to admit that it's happening to them. They are ashamed to tell their parents, grandparents, family, friends, rabbis and community, ashamed to allow the outside world to know what is happening in their family, a Jewish family.

Jewish Women's Aid is the only UK organisation providing support, advice and refuge space for Jewish women and their children affected by domestic violence.

For more information please click here to go to the Jewish Womens Aid website

Chief Rabbi Sacks has shown great support to us over the last few years. Please see below.

Jewish Women's Aid Shabbat

The story of Chanukah underwent a fascinating change in the course of time. Originally it celebrated a military victory of the Jews over the Greeks. But that military victory was short-lived. Two centuries later, Israel was conquered by Rome. Chanukah might have ceased to be.

But it survived, and its symbolism was transformed. The sages said about Chanukah, Ner ish uveito, the light was to be kindled by each man and his household. The sages also said, beto zu ishto, "the word beito means 'his wife'". Chanukah became not a military festival but a domestic one. Its light became the light of the Jewish home, of husband and wife and family and of that highest of Jewish values, shalom bayit, "peace in the home."

With deep historical insight the sages realised that the real battle between the Jews and the Greeks was not physical but spiritual. The Greeks valued power; Jews valued peace. That is why domestic violence, when it takes place within the Jewish community, is so shocking. It's why we have to take a stand against it, and why we have to provide help for those who suffer from it.

In the Ketubah, the marriage contract, a husband undertakes to "work for and cherish" his wife. The sages said that "A man should love his wife as himself, and honour her more than himself." He should not be angry or vituperative or create a mood of fear within the home (Rambam, Ishut 15: 19). According to a midrash, when Jacob momentarily displayed anger toward Rachel, G-d said "Is that the way to answer a woman in distress"? (Bereishith Rabbah 71: 7)

Yet domestic violence still exists. 25 November is an International Day Against Violence Against Women, and it is appropriate that we think about it within the Jewish community as well. Abuse comes in many forms: physical, emotional and psychological, and we in the Jewish community are not immune to it.

We would like to think otherwise, knowing how much Judaism sanctifies the home and idealises the relationship between husband and wife. But we cannot wish a problem away. It exists. That is why I - and our rabbinate - support the work of Jewish Women's Aid and other agencies working in the field.

Jewish Women's Aid provides refuge and resettlement for wives and children who face domestic violence. It runs a confidential helpline staffed by trained volunteers. It offers therapeutic counselling. And it runs programmes in Jewish schools, educating teenagers about healthy relationships and the dangers when they break down.

The home is protected space. That is its beauty. But it brings with it the risk that behaviour that would not be countenanced anywhere else can happen there precisely because of its privacy. Insult, intimidation, the use of force, emotional blackmail and physical violence can happen behind closed doors without anyone else knowing. When it comes to abuse, the home provides the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.

That is why Judaism places such emphasis on shalom bayit, peace in the home, because it's in the home that we are tested, there that we learn the love that is respect, consideration, gentleness, the capacity to listen as well as speak, sensitivity, graciousness and the willingness to make sacrifices for one another. It's there that we learn chessed, the love that is also kindness; and it's this that brings the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, into the home.

As a community we may not turn a blind eye or deaf ear to the problem of domestic violence. We must oppose those who practise it and offer practical help to those who suffer from it. Chanukah is a festival of hope; and we must bring hope to those who need it. We may not leave the afflicted to suffer alone.


Article from the written by the Chief Rabbi please click here to go to the Chief Rabbi's Website