In the past, when a battered woman sought out the services of Shalom Bayit, she had to leave a voice mail message, wait for the return phone call, and meet with a volunteer at a synagogue or community center.
Now, thanks to grants from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, that same woman will get a live person at the other end of the line and an actual office to go to, staffed by paid professionals.
“We’re able to bump up our level of service to a completely different level now,” said Naomi Tucker, a founder of Shalom Bayit and its new executive director.
The new office is in Oakland, but Tucker did not want to disclose where, to protect clients. Julie Petrusky will be a part-time counseling director.
Since 1992, when Tucker founded the grassroots task force, its volunteers have run Shalom Bayit out of their homes. They counseled clients while holding down full-time jobs. And they met with women in space made available to them by synagogues and Jewish organizations around the Bay Area.
“Finding space and juggling between our paid jobs and our clients’ schedules was really a challenge,” said Tucker.
Tucker, who was a high school French teacher until June, has spent 17 years working in the area of domestic violence. “I’ve always had my heart in it,” she said, “but it’s really exciting for me to have started this nine years ago and finally be in a place where I can devote myself to it full time.”
Shalom Bayit scheduled an open-house celebration for clients yesterday. And it’s not a moment too soon, according to Tucker.
“We were seeing about five to 10 women a year in the past, and we’ve seen 17 new ones this past year, plus all our ongoing clients,” said Tucker.
Since its inception, Shalom Bayit — a phrase that means “peace in the home” — has survived on individual donations as well as with help from Jewish organizations.
Jewish Women International, for example, funds the voice mailbox. The local chapter of the National Council for Jewish Women paid for the printing of brochures. The $60,000 from the Haas Fund and $50,000 from the Goldman Fund mark the first time the organization has ever received financing on this level.
And it will make a huge difference, said Tucker. For years now, clients have wanted a live person to answer the Shalom Bayit telephone.
Oftentimes, “the women who call are in situations where it’s not safe to get a call back,” said Tucker, “and that’s a really critical piece.”
Furthermore, “having only voice mail severely limited how much outreach we could do to battered women” as those who needed immediate counseling could not receive it.
“It was not effective for a domestic violence program to be run that way,” Tucker said.
In addition to serving battered women, for nine years the organization has also worked to prevent domestic violence.
Efforts included holding presentations for the community, networking with secular domestic-violence prevention programs and encouraging them to refer Jewish women to Shalom Bayit, and working with the staffs of secular agencies.
In addition to individual counseling, Shalom Bayit offers support groups for Jewish women and “healing rituals that incorporate Jewish themes as well as liturgy to help provide healing within a Jewish context,” said Tucker.
According to Shalom Bayit, domestic violence is just as likely to happen in Jewish families as in non-Jewish ones. But Jewish women are often less likely to seek help, because of a greater sense of shame.
And because Shalom Bayit has a relationship with the 11 battered women’s shelters in the area, if a Jewish woman has special needs while there, such as kosher food or Shabbat candles, Shalom Bayit can help make sure she gets them.
Shalom Bayit also works with the many Jewish organizations in the area, as well as synagogues and rabbis and the Dream House, sponsored by Jewish Family and Children’s Services, which houses homeless Jewish women for a longer period than a shelter.
Now, with the new office and staff, “we’re able to serve the community in an entirely new way,” said Tucker. “It’s pretty incredible to see the web of support that has carried us to this place.”