Shine The Light by Rachel Lev : Community Context

What is community? How can it help? What gets in the way? Sexual abuse and resistance to dealing with it occur in all cultures. Rabbis, community leaders and survivors discuss some of the difficulties the Jewish community faces in acknowledging incest and sexual abuse as well as revealing some of the rich resources for healing within Judaism.

Bottom line: "Jewish law and tradition do not condone abuse" writes Rabbi Elliot Dorff (Chapter Thirteen: The Role of Rabbis, Cantors, and Educators in Preventing Abuse and Repairing its Consequences).

As Shine the Light demonstrates, we must

Understand and confront denial
Help people heal, and
Create communities that are safe for children

People Holding Hands

The Talmud tells a story of Rabbi Hillel. A non-believer came to him saying that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah in the time he could stand on one foot. Hillel replied, "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it."
(Hillel flourished during the era of the Second Temple, or the end of the first century B.C.E. and the beginning of first century C.E.)

Family Violence Prevention Fund: www.endabuse.org

For a bibliography on sexual and domestic violence in Jewish lives by Marcia Cohn Spiegel contact: www.mincava.umn.edu

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