Orthodox Women Launch Training Program to Combat Sexual Crimes

June 2, 2009

With funding from the New Israel Fund, a new course to raise awareness about sexual assault will be inaugurated next month for graduates of the Israeli Defense Force Hesder Yeshiva program. This program, designed for soldiers who combine Torah study with service in a combat unit, will be conducted by the Crisis Center for Religious Women, one of ten rape crisis centers operating under the umbrella of veteran NIF grantee Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel.

The course is directly funded by the Special Pool for Orthodox Women run jointly by NIF and the Cummings Foundation. The Pool equips Orthodox women with the tools to become agents of social change in Israel through leadership development, empowerment, promoting women's rights and cooperative ventures for religious women.

Debbie Gross, head of the Crisis Center for Religious Women, fields inquiries on their hotline.

Debbie Gross, Executive Director of Crisis Center for Religious Women, explained that sexual crimes against children, in particular, are more easily perpetrated in Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox society.

She said, “Sexual assault on children has reached epidemic proportions in Israel. And it is much easier to assault children sexually in religious society because of the segregation of the sexes. For example, in the Orthodox community mothers cannot accompany their sons to a swimming pool once they are eight – so they are likely to be sent with an older brother instead.

She added, "We are already giving similar workshops to kindergarten and elementary school teachers. We approached the heads of many Yeshivas about giving workshops, but they were not prepared to let women teach the course. That’s the very reason we need the course, so we can train men to give workshops for other Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox men."