Special to WJW

Domestic abuse does not discriminate. It cuts across all religious, ethnic and socioeconomic lines, rearing its insidious head in homes both big and small. Like all epidemics, domestic abuse can only be dealt with if it is first identified and recognized as a social and communal crisis.

Consider a recent story in The Washington Post that told the story of Fort Foote Baptist Church in Fort Washington, which convened Christian religious leaders to fight domestic violence. The event featured Yvette Cade, a heroic woman who was set on fire last year by her estranged husband but survived. Tragically, the program, "Project Safe Sunday," featured another story of a victim of domestic abuse. This woman, however, did not live to tell the story herself. She was beaten to death by her boyfriend.

If the Jewish community were to convene a similar conference today, the faces and last names may differ from its Christian counterparts, but the stories would be the same. It is time for the Jewish community to be resolute in taking a stand against domestic violence.

If you think these kinds of crimes don't happen in the Jewish community, think again. Statistics show that abuse occurs at the same frequency in Jewish homes as in non-Jewish homes. However, one startling fact jumps out ‹ abused Jewish women tend to stay longer in abusive relationships.

Pastor Joseph Lyles, the Christian leader responsible for organizing "Project Safe Sunday," said it was his goal to raise awareness of this crisis among members of the clergy, who often don't know where to refer domestic violence cases. That, too, is our goal at the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse.

Since our creation in 1999 ‹ following a Washington Jewish Week article that featured the story of a local Jewish woman who was a victim of domestic abuse ‹ JCADA has responded to hundreds of confidential calls, coordinated counseling and case management, provided food, rent, clothing and other basic needs, arranged for pro bono legal services, and sponsored numerous educational programs on topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, dating violence, campus safety, along with programs for parents on navigating their kids' dating years.

Nonetheless, even with JCADA in place, Jewish victims of abuse will usually first turn to their rabbi for help.

That is why JCADA is calling on our community ‹ during these final days of October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month ‹ to take the following steps:

• Deliver a sermon on abuse. Rabbis frequently talk about violence in our country, violence in our schools and anti-Semitic violence. Let's shine the light at home and consider ways in which congregants or their loved ones may be suffering, and encourage those in need to seek help.

• Sign the National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence Against Women. In an ad in this newspaper just two weeks ago, 37 local and national Jewish leaders were saluted for signing the FaithTrust Institute's declaration. We applaud those who have. This is a statement that tells our community that Jewish leaders take abuse seriously, proclaiming with one voice that "violence against women exists in all communities, including our own, and is morally, spiritually and universally intolerable."

• Be a synagogue liaison. We are looking for a volunteer in each local synagogue to work with us to ensure that Jewish victims of abuse know where to turn. We also are available to speak at sisterhood meetings or social action committee programs. Often our clients come to us after these programs, so you may be doing a mitzvah by being a conduit for someone who needs help.

• Setting up an educational or prevention program ‹ for rabbis, cantors, religious school staff, mikvah attendants, rabbis' wives and private practice mental health professionals. JCADA has also aggressively worked to bring programs on healthy relationships to local teenagers at Jewish day schools and after-school synagogue classes.

We hope that someday there will not be a need for us to address this very difficult issue in the Jewish community. Until then, we will continue to support our clients, provide community education to help us all be more aware and expand our prevention efforts by making sure that we stop the cycle of violence in future generations.

Barbara J. Zakheim is the founder and president of JCADA. Gail Ravnitzky-Silberglied is executive director.