Liberal Judaism is proud to be an official sponsor of Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) Shabbat 2022, which takes place this weekend (Friday/Saturday 2/3 December).

JWA Shabbat is the Jewish community’s annual outreach and prevention event on the issues of domestic abuse and sexual violence. The goal is to increase understanding of abuse, break the taboo around discussing it and ultimately, make our communities anti-abuse and safer for women.

In the last week, your community should have received a physical pack containing:

• Copies of JWAs new domestic abuse information leaflet, which we hope will be put out on seating and/or on the Zoom screen.
• A copy of a short speech which a rabbi or congregant could read out during the service.

Both of the above can also be found online here as part of the JWA Shabbat 2022 Community Toolkit, which also includes conversation starters and fact sheets.

Liberal Judaism Chair Ruth Seager said: “We really hope that all Liberal Judaism communities, big and small, are able to help support JWA over this coming Shabbat, which in turn will translate into action in your communities which can truly make a difference to people’s lives.”

Domestic abuse and sexual violence can happen to anyone. If you are a Jewish woman or girl aged 16+ (14+ in London) and you have experienced abuse and would like some confidential support, please know that you can reach out to Jewish Women’s Aid.

For men who have experienced abuse, there is a specialist support service called Respect.