North London's Jewish Community Radio station, KOL, available on DAB+ platforms across the capital, reports that Jewish Women's Aid is concerned about the prospects of women who are trapped in abusive relationships. The Jewish community has just marked Rosh Hashana, the New Year, and this starts a period of holidays and high days that conclude with Yom Kippur in October. During this period, Jewish Womens Aid fears that victims of abuse can be isolated at home.

Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) has warned that long periods spent at home can leave women with fewer opportunities to get away from a person who is controlling them, as the charity launches a Rosh Hashanah campaign.

The Home Should Feel Safe campaign is highlighting coercive control, which affects 88 per cent of JWA’s clients.

Coercive control can include gaslighting, being discouraged from seeing family and friends, a partner expecting to know where someone is at all times, frequent checks of a partner’s phone, and financial control over a person’s life.

Karen Lewis, JWA’s director of client services, said coercive control involved someone gradually stripping away another person’s freedom and independence. She stressed that it was not one major incident of abuse, but a pattern of behaviour that builds over time.

She added that it could also take the form of threats, intimidation, humiliation, or making a woman feel as though she were constantly walking on eggshells.

Over time, Lewis said, a woman might change her own actions or behaviour to avoid a negative reaction from her partner. She might stop seeing certain people, avoid activities she enjoys, or continually think about how to keep the peace.

Lewis noted that the High Holy Days, when families spend more time at home, could make women feel particularly vulnerable.

She said there was often considerable pressure to create a happy family atmosphere. For a woman living with coercive control, that could mean having less space or opportunity to get away from the person controlling her.

There could also be many expectations around family, relationships and keeping things looking good from the outside. If circumstances behind closed doors were not good, that contrast could be especially difficult.

Lewis observed that seeking help could sometimes be hard for women in the Jewish community.

She said talking about abuse could be difficult in any close-knit community, with shame, fear of judgement and concerns about what family, friends or others might think.

Women could also often feel a sense of responsibility to maintain what looks like a happy Jewish home, or their abuser might be someone very well regarded in the community. This, she said, could make it even harder for a woman to speak out, leaving her to wonder: “Who’s going to believe me?”

JWA confidential helpline: 0808 801 0500

Email: advice@jwa.org.uk

Webchat: www.jwa.org.uk/webchat