A panel of experts share the findings of a yearlong project: Raising Awareness and Understanding of Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community. The discussion covers the findings of this needs assessment – particularly unmet needs and gaps identified - and explores JWI’s recommendations for new systems, collaborations, and funding priorities to better support Jewish survivors, and the service providers, programs, clergy and advocates who serve them.
This project – the most in-depth, comprehensive, national study on domestic violence and the Jewish community ever undertaken – was made possible with the generous support of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies.
OPENING REMARKS
Lisa Eisen is co-president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and leads the organization’s U.S. Jewish, and gender and reproductive equity portfolios. Eisen leads initiatives to advance gender and reproductive equity, as well as empower women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. She founded the Safety Respect Equity Network, which promotes women’s leadership and addresses sexual harassment and gender discrimination in Jewish workplaces, and she chairs the Advisory Board.
MODERATOR
Rain Pryor, member of JWI’s Board of Trustees, is an entertainer, speaker and activist, who has been nominated and honored by the NAACP for her off-Broadway show Fried Chicken & Latkes. She regularly shares her views on race and has led panel discussions on diversity in education and the entertainment industry at Princeton University, The Jewish Federations of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Baltimore. Rain’s father was comic genius Richard Pryor, and her mother a Jewish GOGO dancer-turned-astronomer. She currently resides, with her husband and daughter, in Baltimore, where she ran for local office in the 3rd District in 2020.
CLOSING REMARKS
Meredith Jacobs, JWI's CEO, is an award-winning journalist, author, and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week. Jacobs assumed the role of CEO after serving as JWI’s chief operating officer for six years; in that role she managed communications, branding, messaging, and development. She has shepherded the development of numerous women's leadership and workplace equity initiatives, including the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project; Men As Allies: Leading Equitable Workplaces ; and the Young Women’s Impact Network.
PANEL
Deborah Rosenbloom, JD/MPA, is JWI's chief program officer, responsible for directing and implementing JWI’s programmatic work to end and prevent gender based violence. Her work includes engaging Jewish and interfaith communities in advocacy and resource development, providing training to the domestic violence community, empowering men and boys to be allies, advocating for anti-violence legislation, promoting women’s economic security, and collaborating with diverse organizations.
Deborah regularly presents workshops exploring intersections of faith and domestic violence, is the director of three federal grants from the US Office on Violence Against Women and staffs JWI’s Clergy Task Force on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community. She developed JWI’s groundbreaking Financial Literacy and Financial Fitness programs empowering women of all ages with confidence to take charge of their money.
Rosenbloom attended Hebrew University, holds a B.A., cum laude in history from Cornell University, and a J.D./M.P.A. from Syracuse University College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Dr. Shoshannah D. Frydman, PhD, LCSW is the Executive Director of Shalom Task Force. A national organization with a mission to combats domestic violence and foster safe and healthy relationships. Shana has worked in the field of intimate partner violence with a specialty in the Jewish community for 20 years. Shana co-chairs the UJA Taskforce on Family Violence and serves on the NYC's Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence Advisory Council. Shana regularly lectures about intimate partner abuse, sexual abuse, trauma and culturally informed practice where she has published on this and related subjects. Dr. Frydman graduated with her MSW from the University of Maryland School of Social Work with honors and earned her PhD at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York/Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work.
Danielle N. Hartman joined Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services (JFS) as President and CEO in March 2010. Under her leadership, the operating budget at JFS has more than quadrupled from $3.4M to $18M and their Endowment Funds have increased from $6M to $14M. She has significantly diversified the way the agency is funded, focusing on growing those programs which generate fees, and strengthening community partnerships to expand services.
Rabbi David M. Rosenberg has served as Coordinator of Jewish Educational Services at JCFS Chicago since 2007. He directs the JCFS Knapp Yeshiva and serves as the agency’s liaison to the Orthodox Jewish community. He is co-chair of the Clergy Task Force to End Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community of Jewish Women International.
David received his BA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and a master’s degree in Bible and rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University. He is a graduate fellowship alumnus of the Wexner Foundation.