All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise indicated.
Date/Time
Date(s) - Mar 30
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
ZA’AKAH is dedicated to advocating for survivors of sexual violence in the Orthodox Jewish community. Our advocacy includes general awareness-raising of the reality and prevalence of sexual violence in the community through traditional and social media. Additionally, ZA’AKAH participates in educational events, interviews, podcasts, and creates content for traditional and social media focused on abuse prevention policies, and how to correctly respond to suspicion or disclosure of sexual violence, as well as combatting common myths, misconceptions, or misinformation about sexual violence.
ZA’AKAH also provides resource referrals to survivors based on their specific needs and circumstances. We partner with many organizations that provide a wide array of services, including mental health, legal, and material support resources.
In order to not only reactively provide aid to survivors, but proactively prevent sexual violence and provide opportunities for survivors to seek justice against their abusers and those who enabled them, ZA’AKAH is active in legislative advocacy on behalf of survivors. We were active in the fight for the Child Victims Act and its extension, played an integral part in the passage of Erin’s Law, which mandated abuse prevention education in New York State public schools, participated in the effort to end child marriage in New York State, and are actively engaged in advocacy for the Adult Survivors Act. On our legislative agenda is extending the abuse prevention education mandate to private schools, expanding the scope of mandatory reporting, and abrogating the clergy-penitent privilege.
Following the COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020, ZA’AKAH, in response to the impending three-day Yom Tov of Pesach and the anticipated mental health crisis caused by the isolation people would be experiencing, opened a Shabbos/Yom Tov Mental Health Peer-Support Hotline which has grown from a handful of volunteers to a volunteer corps of over 45 people who work in rotations day and night every shabbos and yom tov to provide support to those in the community who are experiencing any kind of distress.
Visit the Members Only section to register.