Shofar Jewish Family Congregation December 2012/January 2013 www.jewishfamilycongregation.org
Kislev/Tevet/Shevat 5773
From the Rabbi’s Desk Last fall, a small group of concerned members of our community began to meet to discuss the issue of domestic violence in this area. The matter was raised by a recent victim herself, and by some others in response to the triple murder-suicide that took place just before the blizzard of October 2011. The membership of the group consists of local clergy, the victim who got the ball rolling, representatives of the local police forces in the area, and domestic violence professionals from various agencies. We have met approximately once a month since then (except over the summer), and have planned some training events.
for the Reform movement. Other clergy from various Christian denominations, and another rabbi also spoke, and it emerged that in some churches and synagogues, there is a real inclination to discount the report of a victim, and to encourage her (the victim is usually a woman) to return to her husband (usually the abuser) in pursuit of what our tradition calls shalom bayit, peace in the home. Victims can be made to feel responsible for the violence, and shamed by their experience.
We are planning a training program for local clergy, which will be hosted here at JFC in January. In preparation, we recently watched a film made years ago to showcase the response to domestic violence from various faith traditions; the late Rabbi Julie Spitzer, who wrote her rabbinic thesis on this subject, spoke
can reach a clergy person right away if they choose to do so; we know that our role is simply to be supportive and to help get the victim the services she needs. We will have a list of local resources, with names and phone numbers, to help her in the imme-
The victim (whose privacy must be protected) who got the ball rolling by discussing with her clergy what had happened to her, reports that the local police The statistics from one of the towns around here were wonderful in their response to her, validating show that more incidents are being reported every her experience and helping her to deal with it. But it year, more of these involve weapons, and more of was not until she participated in a group for victims them involve calls to Child Protective Services as well. like herself that she came to understand what had It is a fact as well as conventional wisdom that in happened, and that she is certainly not alone. tough economic times, people seem less able to con- Our current goal is to establish a clergy on-call rotatain their emotions, and so it is quite scary to note tion, which will be provided to the local police offices that many of the incidents reported involve weapons. and to the domestic violence agencies, so that victims
From the Rabbi’s Desk Service Schedule Notes from the Editor High Holy Day Appeal Youth Group HHD Services Sukkah Setter-Uppers 7th Grade Food Drive Yom Kippur/President Early Childhood Center
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Kids Ask the Rabbi The Ritual Committee Support-A-Walk The Religious School Summer Camp Pix JFC Sisterhood Social Action Committee 2012 Confirmands Ask the Rabbi
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