New Jersey Jewish News
Central New Jersey News Story

Safe haven for battered Israeli women

by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

Seated around a table in Scotch Plains, a rapt audience listened as two lawyers painted a portrait of domestic violence. There were exclamations of horror and of empathy for people trapped by private torment, social strictures, and a convoluted legal system.

There were also murmurs of disbelief, as Israeli lawyers Noach Korman and Oshrit Broyer-Tepper explained that the victims were religious Jewish women in Israel.

For Korman and Broyer-Tepper, however, the unthinkable was the unavoidable. The two spoke at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus in Scotch Plains as part of a five-day American visit on behalf of Miklat, the only shelter in Israel for religious women.

Last year, with the help of a $10,000 grant from the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey Jewish Community Endowment Foundation, the organization established a legal services department and a hotline to provide legal assistance to any woman who needs it, regardless of religious or ethnic identity.

By the end of 2005, the 10-year-old center had handled 1,043 applications for help, opened 482 files in the rabbinic and civil courts, and helped a total of 96 clients reach divorce agreements or “shalom bayit” — “peace in the home” — arrangements. But many women had to be turned away because the organization lacked the staff to help them.

“Why do we do this?” Korman, Miklat’s founder and director, asked rhetorically. “Because in Israel there are two different procedures with divorce: the rabbinic and the civil. For all couples who go through it, this is a bad process, but for women who are abused it is [especially] bad, because they have so much less self-confidence.”

According to the literature they distributed, between 10 and 15 percent of Jewish women in Israel experience domestic violence. The rate is the same for all segments of the community. Last year, 142,000 Israeli women were beaten by their husbands; 2,900 were threatened with murder. Perhaps even more disturbing, more than half a million children witness such violence, and many grow up to replicate the pattern.

While there are 14 secular shelters for battered women around the country, Korman realized 10 years ago that the shelters were ill equipped to handle the special needs of religious women. Having witnessed their suffering first-hand as a lawyer, he founded Miklat to provide emergency shelter and support for religiously observant women seeking to escape abusive husbands. Miklat is still the only organization in Israel providing shelter for religious women who would feel out of place in a secular setting. In 2005, the organization opened a second venue. Given the number of children many of its clients have — one woman client had 12 — more space is needed than at secular shelters.

Miklat provides hospitable emergency housing and then helps arrange transitional accommodations until its clients are back on their feet. In addition to counseling, it also provides vocational guidance, financial aid until alimony and social security kick in, child care, and assistance in placing children in appropriate schools.

“No other organization in Israel is doing this,” Korman said. “They give legal advice, but they don’t represent the women in court.” The center undertakes to provide the legal help as long as a client needs it. In some cases, that can mean many years, with the additional struggle to obtain a get, a religious divorce. “We promise to stay with them,” he said.

Broyer-Tepper, the other attorney on Miklat’s staff, said one of their hardest challenges was to persuade their religious clients to fight for their rights. “When she comes to us, she doesn’t believe she has any rights. Many of them are willing to give up everything just to get out, but we have to show them they must fight for their rights for their sake and for their kids.”

In 2004, faced with the desperate needs of its clients, Miklat set up the legal department, known as the Israel Center for Family Justice. Korman and Broyer-Tepper, with what help they can afford, handle restraint orders and divorce proceedings, as well as alimony, custody, and property issues. They eschew pro bono help, they explained, because they believe that to get skillful, empathetic legal services, one needs to pay professional rates.

The speakers were introduced by Margy-Ruth Davis, the executive vice-president and cofounder of Perry Davis Associates, an international consulting firm that helps institutions and communities raise funds and grow. Stanley Stone, federation executive vice president, described her as “the shidduch-maker” who forged the connection between Miklat and the Central community.

Describing the vision of the two Israelis, Davis said, “Noach plans, and Oshrit hopes that they will have [the ability to handle] 3,000 cases a year.” Part of the reason for this visit to the United States was to explain to supporters how they hope to meet those needs.

Some people in the audience expressed shock that such abuse happens in Jewish communities. But Shari Bloomberg, who directs programs dealing with domestic violence for Jewish Family Service of Central NJ, nodded in recognition. The predicament facing abused observant women in New Jersey is very similar, she said. The agency provides individual and group counseling for such women and for their children, and, if needed, arranges shelter for them at venues run by other organizations.

Representatives from the federation visited the Israeli center last year and met women and children being cared for there. Korman, looking around the room on Monday, commented with pleasure at seeing familiar faces. “I am happy to see friends,” he said.

The Israelis provided a list of their organization’s requirements. A donation of $750 would enable Miklat to provide a battered woman with one day of legal services or a day of representation in court. With $75,000, the center could open two more offices in the northern and southern parts of the country to augment its overwhelmed Jerusalem office and provide more accessible local help. With $4,200 a month or $50,000 for a year, a lawyer can be hired to help such women escape abusive husbands and establish a new life with their children.

“If we don’t provide help immediately, these women won’t come back,” Broyer-Tepper added. “They get up their courage once, but they won’t do it again.”

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