460.10,11811111111111#~111110.
01111111111141illaW4MOrrimairPirmmvi.,..
1 DETROIT I
TODAY'S and TOMORROW'S
DESIGNS in JEWELRY.
Shelter For Abused
Jewish Women Planned
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
R
-For the best in quality and design, there is only one place:
32940 Middlebelt Rd.
855-1730
(At 14 Mile Rd. in the Broadway Plaza)
JEWELERS
Custom Designed Jewelry to Your Taste
( DESIGNS IN DECORATOR
LAMINATES
For High Quality Formica
Always At A Great Discount
SPECIALIZING
IN:
• Wall Units
• Bedrooms
• Dining Rooms
• Credenzas
• Tables
• Offices
ALSO
SPECIALIZING:
• Woods • Glass
• Stones • Lucite
New Shades.
New Lamps.
Repairs.
TOP of -
the LAMP
17621 W. 12 Mile
at Southfield
Lathrup Village
313-559-5630
6461 Wayne between
Joy and Warren
Westland
313-525-0570
Barry's
Let's Rent It
PARTIES EXCLUSIVELY
IT DOESN'T HAVE TO COST A
FORTUNE . . . ONLY LOOK LIKE IT!
CALL LOIS HARON 851-6989
Allied Member ASID
18
HOURS: Mon..Fri. 10.6
Thum 10.7:30, Sat. 10.5
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1991
• Tents • Tables • Chairs
• China • Paper Goods
4393 ORCHARD LAKE RD., N. OF LONE PINE
IN CROSSWINDS
855-0480
uth Mayer has not
forgotten the
diminutive, silver-
haired, 70-year-old victim of
domestic violence she
counseled nine years ago at
HAVEN, a shelter for bat-
tered women in Pontiac.
She is haunted by the more
than 40 years of physical
and mental abuse the
woman suffered: How her
husband crushed her glasses
as she was going blind. How
for years, he made her keep
lists of everyone she met and
spoke to. How much he en-
joyed kicking her pregnant
belly.
Ms. Mayer, 31, recalls the
rminutest of details, yet has
trouble remembering the
details of another woman's
story. She says it's because
when they first met, all Ms.
Mayer could focus on was
the tiny, gold Star of David
the woman wore around her
neck.
"I'm afraid I was so shock-
ed, it was all I could focus
on," said Ms. Mayer. "I
never dreamed I'd see a Jew-
ish woman walk into an
abuse shelter."
To meet the growing
numbers of Jewish women
who suffer from domestic
violence, Jewish Family
Service and the National
Council of Jewish Women
Detroit Section will open a
local shelter for battered
Jewish women. They will
make it kosher, so any Jew-
ish woman can come.
Alan Goodman, executive
director of JFS, said plans
for the shelter, to be apart-
ments in undisclosed loca-
tions, have been approved by
his board of directors and
now awaits final NCJW ap-
proval.
"The Jewish community
has to make a statement,"
Mr. Goodman said. "If we
continue to keep quiet, we
deny the abuse exists. We
need to create a safe place
for Jewish women to make
decisions for themselves."
Sally Mayer, an NCJW
board member who attended
a JFS presentation on the
proposal, said the shelter is
practically "a fait accompli."
"I want so much to see this
happen, I had tears in my
eyes," she said. "This isn't a
project we can turn down."
Mr. Goodman said the
shelter is an outgrowth of
the Child Abuse Prevention
Program at JFS.
There are now 50 families
enrolled in the child abuse
program. More than 10 per-
cent, JFS workers believe,
could have benefited from a
shelter. Whether or not
they'd have the strength or
courage to use the shelter is
another question.
That's where NCJW can
help, said Marilyn Levine,
community service vice pres-
ident.
"NCJW will step up its
efforts in community edu-
cation and awareness," Mrs.
Levine said. "We would help
with funding and have the
support and counseling ser-
vices to tap into. Our vol-
unteers are ready to support
the women in this commun-
ity."
Sandra Jaffa of JFS said
it's impossible to work with
abused children when
"I never dreamed
I'd see a Jewish
woman walk into
an abuse shelter."
Ruth Mayer
parents are caught up in
their own cycle of violence.
"We need to separate
them, and send the spouses
to groups," Mrs. Jaffa said.
"If not, the violence in the
family gets worse"
Mrs. Jaffa and Mr. Good-
man travel next month to
Canada, to visit the
safehouse run by B'nai
B'rith Women and Jewish
Family and Child Services of
Toronto.
Lucy Van Wyk, dire-ctor of
the wife assault program at
JFCS, said their safehouse, a
furnished, two-bedroom
apartment, is full 65 percent
of the time.
"We operate a kosher,
emergency shelter," Mrs.
Van Wyk said. "When ours
is full, we arrange for food
and send women to other
shelters in the area.
Mrs. Van Wyk said the
women who use their shelter
often have no alternative.
"They are women on the
lower end of the economic
scale. Many are immigrants.
They come to us because
they want the privacy and
emotional security of an
apartment. From there, our
staff and volunteers work
with them."
One out. of every three
women in America suffers
from an abusive relation-
ship, according to the Na-
tional Coalition Against
Domestic Violence. Mrs.