Dealing with a continual rise in demand during the pandemic, Jewish Women’s Aid has launched #AMaskWontProtect to draw attention to the issue.
The campaign ties in with a fundraising appeal and the domestic abuse charity’s annual cross-communal Shabbat this weekend, for which rabbis addressing online congregations are being encouraged to promote.
Between April and September, JWA supported 545 women and children and for all months since April, the number assisted has been higher than in the equivalent month in 2019.
Its three children’s therapists have provided 167 therapy sessions, 67 per cent more than in the same period in 2019. For the first time, JWA set up an emergency welfare grant fund to provide basic items that women were struggling to pay for, distributing around £20,000.
It reports that problems had worsened for clients because of the increased time at home with the abuser, where they were under constant scrutiny and surveillance.
Increased economic abuse was triggered by women losing their job and becoming more financially dependent on their abuser, or abusers losing their job and then becoming more abusive towards their partner.
CEO Naomi Dickson said: “In my 18 years of involvement with Jewish Women’s Aid, there has never been a time when external societal conditions have had such a negative effect on women experiencing domestic abuse.
“Abusers are manipulating anti-Covid measures to control and torment Jewish women. Our dedicated staff are doing everything they can to support the increasing number of women and their children.”
In a statement of support, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said it was important to highlight the impact "of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic violence within Jewish homes. We would like to believe that such illegal and shameful conduct does not afflict our Jewish community. Sadly, however, that’s not the reality. Prior to the pandemic there was a very real problem with domestic abuse within Jewish homes and during the pandemic we have seen a tragic increase in this phenomenon.”
