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DETROIT
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1 NEWS
9 TISHREI 5754/SEPTEMBER 24, 1993
Hidden Refuge
A public ceremony dedicates a private facility that will help
battered and abused Jewish families.
JENNIFER FINER JEWISH NEWS INTERN
ponsors of Safe Place wanted to
share the opening of their facility
with members of the community
and educate the public about do-
mestic violence.
On Monday night, community
members and leaders gathered at
Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses to attend the dedication of
the only kosher shelter in Michigan
for victims of domestic violence.
Jewish Family Service and the
National Council of Jewish
Women, organizers of Monday's
dedication and sponsors of Safe
Place, used the program to try and
break the myth that domestic vi-
olence does not happen in Jewish
families.
"Unless people understand these
things go on in Jewish families, it
will never be OK for Jewish women
to change what's going on and make
decisions to stop or have stopped it,"
said Sandra Jaffa, program manag-
er for Jewish Family Service's WIN-
DOWS, a nonsectarian family
violence prevention program.
Ann Zousmer, president of the
Nide
ed questions from the audience.
She talked about how denial is
the typical response when domestic
violence occurs in a Jewish family,
and how the rate of abuse in the
Jewish community tends to be the
same as in the general population.
The Jewish community wants to
see itself without flaws, she said,
and a battered Jewish woman often
feels that, by going public, she is let-
ting the community down.
Safe Place sponsors feel that hav-
ing a shelter gives battered women
permission to come forward and pro-
vides them with options.
Greater Detroit Section of NCJW,
added, "What we are finding here,
as well as nationally, is the prob-
lem that Jewish people fail to think
it applies to us, and the biggest prob-
lem is nobody
talks about it in
the Jewish corn-
•
munity.
"We wanted to
announce the fact
that there is help
and a place for
,
women to go. We
f
\
also want to start
•
•
to get people in
4 .1
general talking
about the fact that
if it's happening to
you, you are not Janice Shatzman with speaker Ellen Ledley and Ann Zousmer.
alone."
Ellen Ledley, co-author of Shalom
"Each person who is aware of fam-
Bayit: A Guide for a Jewish Response ily violence becomes an advocate and
to Child Abuse and Domestic helps to spread the word. This
Violence and director of the Family awareness can only help the Jewish
Violence Project of Jewish Family community," Ms. Jaffa said.
Service of Los Angles, discussed
Said Mrs. Ledley, "I'm seeing
myths associated with domestic vi- a tremendous amount of sup-
olence in Jewish families and field- port."
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DETROIT
Butzel Man
Federation cites Dr. Giles'
service and leadership.
Page 14
BUSINESS
Ending The Boycott?
Prospects for peace may end
the economic war against Israel.
Page 32
E
.,-.
=
SPORTS
Hitting An Ace
Tourney raises funds
for kids at the JCC.
Page 47
❑
CLOSE UP
It is the most solemn day of the year, a
time of absolution and atonement.
Even in the Nazi death camps, Jewish
prisoners regularly fasted on Yom
Kippur. The sense of spirituality that
characterizes Yom Kippur should not
begin and end with the day. Judaism
is filled with everything from the
mystical to the intellectual that offer
opportunities to get closer to God:
appreciating a rainbow, studying, be-
ing grateful for one's good fortune —
ordinary acts that, in the words of
Rabbi Harold Kushner, transform life
into a sacred experience.
ENTERTAINMENT
On Tour
Food For
The Soul
Story on page 52
Feld Ballets will visit
Music Hall and Macomb.
Page 67
Contents on page 3