Together at the meeting to promote JFCS’ Jackson Katz initiative are, from left, Debra Levenstein; Sue Weiner, camp director at the Jewish Community Center of Princeton Mercer Bucks; Jennifer Millner of Titusville and Linda Feldstein of East Windsor, members of the Project SARAH Task Force; and Anne Berman-Waldorf, educational director of Congregation Beth Chaim.
Photos by Marilyn Silverstein
August 12, 2008
The Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County is spearheading a groundbreaking effort to galvanize the entire community around the goal of ending men’s violence against women.
The centerpiece of the effort is a plan for regional appearances by prominent educator Jackson Katz of California, author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help.
The agency is reaching out to both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities to create a coalition to fund Katz’s speaking engagements.
“This is the first time that Mercer County community agencies, led by JFCS, are banding together to bring social change to the community by changing the discussion around men’s violence against women,” said Debra Levenstein, director of prevention and support services for JFCS and coordinator of the effort.
“By changing the language, changing the discussion, changing the paradigm, we bring men into the equation, and they, too, become responsible for ending men’s violence against women,” she said. “This is bigger than the Jewish community. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for Mercer County to end men’s violence against women.”
The initiative is unfolding under the auspices of Project SARAH (Stop Abusive Relationships at Home), the agency’s statewide initiative against domestic abuse in the Jewish community, Levenstein said.
Tentative plans call for Katz to make several presentations in the region on Dec. 3 and 4 — two evening programs for the general community, a workshop for professionals, and a for-men-only breakfast program for Jewish community leaders. The programs for the general community would be geared toward men and teenage boys.
Debra Levenstein said she hopes to involve men in the effort to end domestic violence.
Levenstein estimates that the project will cost around $12,000. So far, support within the Jewish community has come from United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks, Jewish Community Center of PMB, the Board of Rabbis of PMB, and the Principals Council of PMB, as well as six area synagogues — Adath Israel Congregation in Lawrenceville; Beth El Synagogue in East Windsor; Congregation Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction; Congregation Brothers of Israel in Newtown, Pa.; The Jewish Center in Princeton; and Har Sinai Temple in Pennington. The Washington-based Jewish Women International, the Rachel Coalition of the Jewish Family Service of MetroWest, and Project SARAH of the Jewish Family Service of Greater Clifton-Passaic have also made commitments of financial support.
In addition, Joyce Rappeport of Princeton Township, a member of JFCS’ Project SARAH Task Force and chair of JWI’s national board of trustees, has pledged to help fund the effort through the Albin Family Foundation, the small family fund she oversees.
In the wider community, supporters of the initiative include United Way of Greater Mercer County; Womanspace Inc., a Trenton-based shelter; and the Family Support Organization of Burlington/Mercer Counties. Five Princeton-based agencies — the Princeton Human Services Commission; the Crisis Ministry of Princeton; the YWCA of Princeton; the HiTops teen health and education center; and the Corner House, a nonprofit counseling agency for adolescents, young adults, and their families — have also pledged financial support. Also, Rider University and the Performing Arts Center at Princeton High School have made commitments to provide venues for Katz’s appearances at no charge.
Levenstein said that JFCS will continue to reach out for financial support from other agencies in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities, as well as from corporations, men’s clubs, sports organizations, and social groups.
“We’ve just started,” she said. “In terms of community support, we’ve got that hands down.”
Levenstein said she first became familiar with Katz and his work when she heard him speak at the JWI Conference on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community in Baltimore last year.
“He’s dynamic, he’s kind of cutting-edge, and he’s engaging as a speaker,” she said as she waited to host an organizational meeting at the Lawrenceville offices of United Way. Attending the meeting were about 20 representatives of Jewish and non-Jewish agencies who were considering making a commitment to help fund the project.
“His message is that men need to take responsibility; it’s not just a women’s issue,” she said. “He talks about changing the language from ‘violence against women’ to ‘men’s violence against women.’ Men need to recognize their role as perpetrators, and men need to recognize their role in standing up against it.”
The appearance by Katz could be very important for the local community, she added. “I think he has the ability to help us make a cultural change here in the Princeton area — to help change the conversation, and to have a shift in the paradigm of the issue of violence against women by putting men into the picture.”
JFCS executive director Linda Meisel said she sees the initiative as a natural extension of the work of Project SARAH.
“It’s addressing a topic we haven’t addressed, really,” she said, referring to Katz’s focus on men’s responsibility for domestic violence. “He’s a national figure, and that makes it even better.”
The project is especially important because it is bringing Jewish and non-Jewish organizations together, Meisel added. “This is a community issue,” she said. “We don’t often sit at the same table, so I think it’s great.”
Rappeport said she is especially committed to the initiative.
“I’m very interested in this project,” the JWI national chair said during an interview before the meeting. “I think it’s a great project, to start to look at men. I think it is the next step. People have to start to deal with this issue.”
For information, or to participate in the project, call Levenstein at 609-987-8100.
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