viewpoints » S end letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com guest column Seeking Harmony In The Home Jewish Family Service J ewish Family Service (JFS) has launched a new initiative aimed at tackling a difficult and uncomfort- able issue — domestic abuse within the Jewish community. This new 100 Mensches program is a group of Jewish men committed to edu- cating the community, particularly men, about the various ways in which domestic abuse can exist, which can include physi- cal violence, verbal abuse, psychologi- cal intimidation, sexual abuse, financial threats, withholding of money and bully- ing. Domestic abuse continues to be ram- pant across America and, sadly, the Jewish community is not immune to it. According to the experts, within Jewish culture, many women are especially reluc- tant to come forward out of fear that doing so would tarnish their family’s reputation or that the community would take the word of their husband or partner over theirs. Consequently, there is often a silent shame among Jewish victims, which cuts across all affiliations of Jewish life. 100 Mensches seeks to enlist Jewish men to understand their role and responsibility in eliminating the problem from our com- munity. Although JFS has been dealing with domestic abuse for more than 25 years, in recent years, especially through its Legal Referral Service, JFS has seen an alarming uptick in the number of cases it handles. In response, JFS established the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA), a collaboration of Jewish orga- nizations focused on educating, advocat- ing, supporting and raising awareness of this destructive issue in our community. JCADA offers extensive education and pre- vention programs while also offering clini- cal support to victims (see jcada.org). A central tenet of Judaism is the concept of shalom bayit — harmony in the home — but sadly, the reality is far different in many Jewish homes where domestic abuse exists in some form and is a constant destructive force to the victim and other family members. To address this in our community, 100 Mensches has kicked off its initial project, a college scholarship contest currently under way for local high school seniors. Participating students are required to submit an 800-1,000-word essay address- ing the simple question, “How can Jewish values help create a future free of domestic abuse?” The submissions, judged by a cross sec- tion of agency leaders and clergy, will be evaluated based on a student’s innovative ideas, while incorporating Jewish values. The top three submissions will be awarded college scholarships in the amount of $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. The contest is currently open and the deadline for submissions is April 15, with the winners being announced in mid-May. Details of the contest can be found at 100mensches.org. 100 Mensches needs at least 100 male mensches — and we know this communi- ty is filled with plenty of them. Please sign up and support the program with a $100 donation at 100mensches.org. We call upon our community to lend your support to our 100 Mensches group and help us raise awareness so that our men and sons will always create harmony in the home — shalom bayit. * Mark Jacobs, vice president, board of directors, Jewish Family Service; Perry Ohren, CEO; Don Rochlen, president, board of directors; and Steven Spector, chair, 100 Mensches, authored this column. CORRECTIONS • “Final Requirement” (March 24, page 14) should have listed the date for Cantorial Soloist Rachel Gottlieb Kalmowitz’s free cantorial concert as Saturday (not Sunday), April 30, 6 p.m., at Temple Beth El, 7400 Telegraph, Bloomfield Township. • “Part Of The Family” (March 17, page 10) should have stated the religion of Congregation Beth Shalom’s main- tenance manager Vasile Havrisciuc as Pentecostal. commentary Donald Trump Isn’t The Problem, We Are D onald Trump’s words about immigrants have been weren’t the worst part condemned by the Anti- of his appearance before Defamation League as “hate the world’s largest annual Jewish speech and stereotyping.” gathering, the AIPAC Policy They applauded a man who, Conference in Washington, D.C. as the leaders of the American The standing ovations from many Conservative Jewish Movement in the Verizon Center when he pointed out, has made “blatant Menachem attacked the president of the sexual references and charac- Creditor United States were. terized women and minorities Times of Israel with derogatory epithets that Where were AIPAC’s commit- ment to bipartisanship and its no moral society should toler- expectation of conference partici- ate.” pants to “be on their best behavior and They applauded a man Orthodox rab- to treat all guests with respect?” bis recently felt obligated to call upon to The bipartisan respect AIPAC values categorically repudiate racism, bigotry so highly was woefully absent when and xenophobia. thousands of attendees leapt to their They applauded a man to whom the feet and cheered when President Obama American Reform Jewish Movement was described by Trump as “a disaster wrote: “You have told supporters to for Israel.” This false and mean accusa- ‘Just knock the hell’ out of protestors, tion was made by a man who has waged promising to pay their legal fees. How a race-tinged “birther” war against the does your refusal to explicitly condemn president. And then the lights at the violence reflect our nation’s commit- Verizon Center went on, as a signal ment to free speech and robust political for the crowd to rise and applaud, and discourse?” applaud they did. And, while they applauded, hun- They applauded a man whose remarks dreds of rabbis protested Trump’s 8 March 31 • 2016 appearance. Some gathered as “Rabbis Against Trump.” Some joined the Reform Movement’s “Holding Leaders Accountable” text study, designed spe- cifically for this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference. Some rabbis chose to absent themselves entirely during Trump’s speech. The group I joined, Come Together Against Hate, left the Verizon Center once Trump arrived and walked out in protest. I was blessed to join Rabbis Morris Allen, Jesse Olitzky and David Paskin and 70 more rabbis and rabbinical stu- dents as we studied sacred texts about ethical conduct, challenged each other to not respond to Trump’s hateful rheto- ric along the campaign trail with hatred or demonization, and to pray. As Rabbi David Paskin, lead organizer of the Come Together Against Hate walk-out, reflected: “We have listened for long enough. Now it is time to come together against hate. It is time to stand on the shoulders of those who built our country, based on values born out of our sacred scriptures. It is time to come together as people of faith and say, ‘Mr. Trump — you do not speak for us; you do not represent us and we will not let your bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, racism and hatred go unanswered any- more.’” But it would be a misrepresentation to end the story with our intrepid rabbinic voyagers learning, praying and singing. Hundreds of rabbis within AIPAC’s community protested Donald Trump’s presence. Thousands more participated virtually, thanks to real-time sharing on many social media platforms. Many more learned of the protests thanks to intense media coverage. And, while hundreds of rabbis pro- tested, thousands of AIPAC attendees applauded. And roared. And cheered. Trump spoke. AIPAC stood and clapped. But here’s what matters most: Will you clap when Trump speaks next? * Menachem Creditor serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, Calif.