BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Domestic Violence Awareness Month is an opportunity for us to speak out in our communities. Giving voice to our stories helps enlighten the uninformed and empower victims who feel they’re suffering alone. Throughout October – Domestic Violence Awareness Month – JWI will be encouraging you to raise your voice in different ways. Each day at the JWI Blog , we will present a personal account of domestic or relationship abuse. Here's one story: Former Washington Post executive Leslie Morgan Steiner is a best-selling author with degrees from two Ivy League schools, three adorable children and a loving and successful husband. If you met her on the street you might never guess her secret: that she was once married to a man who beat her with abandon on a regular basis — an experience she recounts in the memoir Crazy Love . Steiner says when she first met her ex-husband, whom she calls "Conor," on the New York City subway, she had no inkling that he was capable of such abuse. ...

Make a Promise For generations, the Jewish people have fought bravely to end injustices inflicted on us by others. But we have also remained silent about the injustice of violence we inflict on each other. The ethical teachings of our tradition insist on certain values: B'tzelem Elokim, all human beings are created in the image of the divine; Shalom Bayit, safety and peace in the home; Tzedek, justice and accountability; Hesed and Rahamim, loving-kindness and compassion; and Teshuvah and Tikkun olam, healing and wholeness, on individual, communal and universal levels. And yet, domestic abuse remains a very real problem in the Jewish community. We call upon one other and all of the Jewish community to: Replace fear with courage by acknowledging that domestic violence does exist in the Jewish community. HEAR and BELIEVE those brave victims/ survivors who come forward with their stories. Think twice about those who accuse someone of Loshan Hara; are they an abuser who's really...