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TO CELEBRATE OUR
10th ANNIVERSARY!
Domestic Violence
Gets More Attention
Sterling
Berkley (810) 546-2590
Todd Hegler
Birmingham (810) 646-8787
Norm Lining
bank
& trust
Southfield (810) 355-9831
Charles Rollo
West Bloomfield (810) 855-6644
Jeff Thompson
"We create solutions."
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"PENALTY FOR EARLY WITHDRAWAL. RATES MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
ANNUAL PERCENTAGE YIELD EFFECTIVE As OF JULY 22, 1994.
WE SUPPORT NANCY
ARLES
* FOR OAKLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONER *
Oakland County Commissioner, Lillian Jaffe-Oaks; Royal Oak Township Trustees;
Congressman, Sandy Levin; State Representative, Maxine Berman;
State Representative, David Gubow; Oak Park Mayor, Jerry Naftaly;
Southfield Democratic Club Chairperson, Vince Gregory;
Southfield School Board Member, Steve Kaplan
VOTE AUGUST 2, 1994
* A Leader
* A Listener
* A Concerned Activist
District 21 ( Southfield, Oak Park,
Royal Oak Township)
THE DETRO
PAID FOR BY NANCY QUARLES for COUNTY COMMISSIONER COMMITTEE,
HAROLD MONTGOMERY, Treasurer (810) 569-4130
112
Next time you feed your face, think about your heart.
Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated
Lfat and cholesterol. The change'II do you good.
U American Heart Association
WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
New York (JTA) — The thought
of a Jewish man battering his
wife often strikes the same cog-
nitive dissonance as the idea of
football hero O.J. Simpson stand-
ing trial for the murder of his ex-
wife.
But in the wake of the much-
publicized Simpson case, the vol-
ume of calls to shelters and
domestic violence agencies cater-
ing to Jewish women has jumped,
reflecting what experts say is the
oft-denied truth that Jews are vic-
tims of domestic violence as much
as the population at large.
The Family Violence Preven-
tion Center in New York City has
had 25 percent more calls to its
hot line since the Simpson case
started making headlines in mid-
June, according to a spokesper-
son.
And the Family Violence Pro-
ject of Los Angeles, part of the lo-
cal Jewish Family Service, has
seen the number of new calls for
services nearly double, said Lynn
Moriarty, director of the center.
Despite ongoing efforts by com-
munal agencies and religious
movements to educate Jewish
communities about the problem,
experts say the perception that
Jewish homes are untouched by
domestic violence persists.
Experts who work with abused
women from a range of ethnic
backgrounds say the patterns of
intimidation, abuse and recon-
ciliation in abusive relationships,
and the need for control which
drives the abuser, easily crosses
cultural lines.
What is different for a Jewish
woman are the social forces with-
in the Jewish community that af-
fect when, and whether, she and
her family receive help.
Directors of shelters and social
service programs around the
country say that Judaism's em-
phasis on family, and the notions
of a "nice Jewish husband" and a
"happy Jewish home" often lead
battered women to hide or deny
the abuse.
Spousal abuse occurs in 10 per-
cent to 20 percent of Jewish
households, according to a 1983
study published in the Journal of
Jewish Communal Service. So-
cial workers and others who work
with battered Jewish women say
the rate leans more toward 20
percent, consistent with the na-
tional average.
The study also showed that un-
like the population at large, Jew-
ish women in higher
socio-economic brackets may be
more likely to be abused than
poorer ones.
Workers at shelters said it is
not uncommon to have young
Jewish professionals arrive at a
shelter with nothing but their
children and the clothes they are
wearing.
Because abusive spouses of-
ten maintain complete control .
over the family's finances, many
women lack the financial re-
sources to flee or fear a drastic
drop in material lifestyle if they
do.
Nevertheless, abuse in the
Jewish community crosses eco-
nomic and denominational lines,
with rich, poor, secular and reli-
gious women all at significant
risk of being battered by their
spouses.
There is also great fear among
Jews of threatening the family's
social position, or simply not be-
ing believed because of a spouse's
prominence in the community.
In many cases, experts say,
women's stories of abuse are not
Most larger Jewish
communities have
task forces or social
service agencies
dedicated to the
topic.
believed, or she herself is blamed
for "disrupting" the community
or home.
Others hide abuse from their
doctors and therapists.
While some look to the Jewish
community for support services,
others go to programs outside the
community for fear of exposing
their spouses — or themselves —
to embarrassment.
As a result of ongoing efforts
within the Jewish community —
most of it in the last 10-15 years
— activists say that rabbis and
lay leaders have become in-
creasingly aware of the problem,
and how to deal with it effective-
ly.
Most larger Jewish communi-
ties have task forces or social ser-
vice agencies dedicated to the
topic, with referral and advocacy
services, shelters, psychological
treatment for batterers, hot lines,
community education.
Some of these groups receive
partial funding from the Jewish
Board of Family and Children's
Services and from local Jewish
federations, as well as from oth-
er agencies, local and federal
grants and private donations.
Many service organizations
and shelters grew out of grass-
roots efforts begun in the 1970s.