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JILL DAVIDSON SKLA.R

Special to the Jewish News -

N

oone likes bad
news, least of all
the kind where
someone has been

hurt.
Perhaps that is why few
people in the Jewish commu-
nity are aware of the existence
of a domestic violence pro-
gram for counseling and a
kosher safe house.
But that is likely to change in
the next few months as two sep-
arate programs look into spread-
ing the word about the options that domestic violence
victims have in the Jewish community.
We are trying to increase the knowledge," said Ellen
Yashinsky, director of the Windows program at Jewish
Family Service (JFS) , with offices in Southfield and
West Bloomfield.
The first initiative is the Shalom Bayit Task Force,
under the auspices ofJFS. The task force includes several
Jewish agencies and congregations working to educate the
community about the prevalence and signs of domestic
violence as well as the availability of programs to treat
those who suffer from it
So far, the group has printed l,000 copies of a brochure
that details domestic violence and offers phone numbers
for support programs in the Jewish community: The
brochures will be distributed this month, Domestic
Violence Awareness Month.

"Our goal is dis-
.
semmation of this information and
healthy, peaceful interaction and advocacy," Yashinsky
said

Poster Planning

The second initiative will take place soon. said Lois
Granader, domestic violence prevention co-chair for the
Southfield-based National Council of Jewish Women
(NCJW). In the past, the organization has gone into
some Conservative and Reform synagogues and placed
domestic violence educational posters in the stalls of the
women's bathrooms. 1vIany of those posters have been
removed, prompting the organization to design new
posters with tear-off telephone reference numbers for
Windows, the JFS program that treats domestic vio
knee victims.
Granader hopes to place the posters in the women's
restrooms of all the Reform. Conservative and
Orthodox shuts in metro Detroit.
'Maybe it -won't be the woman in trouble who sees

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10/27

2000

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