A Model for Group Work Practice with Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Victims of Domestic Violence: A Qualitative Study

Risks and Opportunities of Faith and Culture: The Case of Abused Jewish Women

“…This may include husbands forcing wives to violate religious commandments, being obsessively and needlessly particular about small points of religious law, using religious ceremonies to humiliate and subjugate, and using Jewish law to justify abuse of their wives (Cwik 1995;Grodner and Sweifach 2004;Lebovics 1998;Palant 2005;Sweifach and Heft-LaPorte 2007;Twerski 1996). An aspect of Jewish law commonly perceived as problematic for Jewish women is the get process.…”

“…This belief works against abused Jewish women, as those who do disclose abuse may have to contend face-to-face with the denial of the community (Sweifach and Heft-LaPorte 2007). Abused women also fear that if they disclose abuse to rabbis they will not be believed or supported (Lebovics 1998), which may explain why in some Jewish samples a significant proportion of survivors have never talked to a rabbi about their abuse (DeVoe et al 2001).…”

“…However, much of the research is based on small nonrandom samples, domestic violence in Israel, and/or only Orthodox groups (e.g., Dehan and Levi 2009;DeVoe et al 2001;Grodner and Sweifach 2004;Ringel and Bina 2007;Sweifach and Heft-LaPorte 2007). It is unclear to what extent findings from Israel, where Jews are the majority and the cultural context is different, can be applied to Jews in the United States.…”

The integration of religion and spirituality in group therapy: Practitioners' perceptions and practices

“…In addition to the creation of spiritual interventions for various concerns, there have been quite a few articles written with guidelines for the use of religion and spirituality in group therapy for various populations, including Native Americans (Dufrene & Coleman, 1992), HIV-infected gay and bisexual men (Norsworthy & Horne, 1994), African Americans (Williams, Frame, & Green, 1999), Latina women (Rodriguez, 2001), male batterers (Ronel & Tim, 2003), and Orthodox Jewish victims of domestic violence (Sweifach & Heft-LaPorte, 2007). However, these guidelines are presented for the practitioner who is working with a group consisting solely of the population of interest.…”

“…For group counseling, however, research on religion and spirituality is still in its early stages. In fact, the only areas that appear to have been covered in the group therapy literature are the development of spiritually-based group treatments for specific concerns (e.g., Cole & Pargament, 1999;Tarakeshwar, Pearce, & Sikkema, 2005) and guidelines for religious or spiritual integration with specific populations (e.g., Dufrene & Coleman, 1992;Sweifach & Heft-LaPorte, 2007).…”