Lunchtime Lecture on Domestic Violence Draws Crowd

Estanne Fawer (right), the founder of Miklat, a network of domestic violence shelters for Chassidic, Haredi, and Orthodox Jewish women and children, spoke to some forty Block students and faculty on Thursday, June 22.

Noach Korman (below), the executive director of Miklat, discussed the difficulties of helping domestic abuse victims in the Ultra-Orthodox communities, where some families are reluctant to confront the problem, because of religious and social factors. Miklat, begun in 1996, maintains a network of 13 shelters, one of which caters to observant women and children, allowing them to observe the shabbot, eat Kosher food, and maintain a religious lifestyle.

This was the latest of a series of free informal lunchtime lectures for students in the Block program. On Thursday, June 15, Associate Dean Carmen Hendricks spoke about working with emigrant clients, and the previous week, David Pelkowitz, a professor from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education at YU, told students about sophisticated approaches to cognitive therapy.