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ADVERTORIAL
A NEW YEAR,
A NEW STANDARD OF CHILD PROTECTION
FOR OUR COMMUNITIES
BY MEYER STERMAN
She sits and prepares for the Days of
Judgment by reviewing cases of rape and
violence towards battered children and
women from the religious and ultra-Orthodox
sectors. She records various stories she has
encountered this year in coded language and
puts them in her prayer book.“I will recite these
stories in my prayers and say,‘I have done my best
to help these women. Now it is up toYou, G-d, to
guarantee their healing and rehabilitation.”says
Debbie Gross, director ofTahel – Crisis Center for
Religious Women and Children. “Anonymity is
the first rule in this place,” Debbie tells me just The center is staffed 24 hours a day and on
before we start the interview.
Tahel was established 25 years ago, when
the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel
realized that their typical centers were not suited device, if, G-d forbid, someone is raped or
to the needs of the religious sector. In order to
provide an optimal response, Debbie Gross set
up the Tahel hotline for women and children
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from the religious and ultra-Orthodox sectors. It On the walls of the hotline room are iron-clad
is easier to decide to make a call when you know
there is an anonymous place that understands
the sensitivities of your community.
Tahel’s beating heart is a small, closed room
with two telephone stations. The function of
the telephone operator is, in the simplest sense
of the word, to save lives. Not only in cases of
sexual assault, but also in cases of domestic
violence and other crisis situations. Six months
of training are required to answer the phones,
which ring about 150 times a week.
Shabbat there is someone on shift with an
emergency beeper approved by all of the
rabbinical authorities. It could be a life-saving specific needs by providing materials, training
severely abused and decides to put an end to
her life.
Debbie Gross,
recipient of the Medal
of Appreciation from
the Israeli President for
her work in combatting
violence against women,
feels that the best is still
to come and launches a
“Standard of Protection”
campaign to create
safe communities.
rules for the volunteers, instructing them how
to manage a conversation as accurately and
correctly as possible. “Check if the caller is in a
safe place,”it says.“If she calls immediately after
the attack, tell her not to take a shower and to
keep her clothes,”and most importantly,“Do not
ask ‘Why?’”
Tahel provides a wide range of services which
include awareness-raising days in educational
institutions, training educational staff to identify
children who have experienced sexual abuse
and violence, and self-defense workshops.
In addition, Tahel runs training programs
for organizations and managers, addressing
and supervision for those responsible for
complaints about sexual harassment within the
workplace. All of this is done while taking into
consideration the specific religious and halachic