38. Friday, December 23, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Battered Women Are a New Problem for the Clergy
selors" for use in cases of
battered wives where reli-
gious issues arise.
Rabbi Dena Feingold of
Shalom Congregation, in
commenting on the prob-
lem, declared, "There is an
image of the Jewish family
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
A woman rabbi in Mil-
waukee is working with a
woman minister, two nuns
and a representative from
United Methodist Women
in writing "a tool for coun-
UNE
I
being ideal — no alco-
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But we are finding more and
more that the Jewish family
isn't that different from that
of other religions, unfortu-
nately," according to a re-
port in the Wisconsin
f f
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Jewish Chronicle.
Feingold is the Jewish
representative on Religions
United To Help (RUTH), a
committee of the Mil-
waukee Task Force on Bat-
tered Women. She said
RUTH was developed to
sensitize and alert the Mil-
waukee clergy to the prob-
lem of battered women,
many of whom she said turn
to their religious leader for
guidance and support with
uneven results.
She said that RUTH
was based on the belief
"that the church/syna-
gogue community has the
potentiajto be a powerful
force to stop wife-
beating, if its members
will acknowledge the
problem, assist the vic-
tims and be willing to
struggle with them
through the dilemmas
and questions which the
violent family experience
raises."
According to the report,
the task force began operat-
ing a 24-hour crisis line in
1976 and, since that time,
has helped more than
35,000 women, serving
about 5,000 a year now.
Members of RUTH and task
force counselors confirm the
fact that the victims include
Jewish women, though no
breakdown by religion is
available.
Connie Corrao, associate
director of the task force and
a member of the group writ-
ing the guide for counselors,
said that "being Jewish is a
real issue to these women.
There seems to be a real
need for secrecy. Being a
battered Jewish woman
seems to have a stigma at-
tached to it, with the fear
that it will reflect on the
Jewish community as a
whole" if it became gener-
ally known.
Feingold said that while
religion is not a priority in
dealing with the problem,
many of the victims come to
the task force with "reli-
gious baggage" — what she
called misinterpretations
and misuses of both Jewish
and Christian traditions.
She said such misin-
terpretations can con-
tribute substantially to a
victim's self-blame, guilt
and acceptance of
"punishment." A com-
mon rationalization of
abuse, used by both vic-
tims and abusers, is "But
the Bible says ..." Fein-
gold cited a passage from
Genesis as an example:
"Her desire shall be
toward her husband and
he shall rule over her."
She said, "Some victims
take those passages liter-
ally: stand by your man, no
matter what." It is also a
common myth among vic-
tims that the Lord punishes
those who are bad and re-
wards those who are good.
Accordingly, a battered
woman may believe she
must be bad and deserving
of her "punishment."
The report indicated that
because 85 percent of the
women seeking help from
the task force are commit-
ted to their religious beliefs,
ii.)T'•,
the counselors believe that
She also asserted that the
it is essential they be equip- Jewish community is "slow
ped to handle religious is- to come out on such issues.
sues, in addition to the We don't value men who are
physical and emotional macho. We value scholars
abuse the victims suffer. and that makes it so much
The guide for the counselors harder" on the perception of
was decided on for such rea- a victim of battering that
sons.
"she will be believed about
According to the report, the beatings."
in addition to the counselors
Feingold added "No m t-
being aware of the religious ter what you think, how-
implications in those cir- ever, it happens in all reli-
cumstances, the clergy gions, and the clergy need to
must be ready to recognize make it clear to the commu-
and deal with the problem. nity at large that the issue
Many victims have com- exists and we want to help."
plained that their religious
counselors, in the past, ad-
vised them to return to the
situations of their abuse,
leaving the victims with the
impression that they are
somehow responsible for
their spouse's violent be-
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havior and that it is their CUSTOM FURNITURE
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their marriages despite the St-CARPET CLEANING
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A victim was quoted as
Phone
saying at a recent task
force meeting, "It is so
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important for the clergy
to understand our plight
and not deny that it hap-
pens within each congre-
gation."
Once the problem is
openly recognized, the re-
port indicated, ministers,
priests and rabbis ` tce an-
other problem: "Hc w do we
counsel women" to recog-
nize that "it may be better to
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NEW YORK — Alan H.
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North American Jewish
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Rabbi Simkha Weintraub
has been elected NAJSA
president.
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