Rescued from Arab Villages: Six Weddings & a Circumcision

Only recently rescued from abusive relationships while trapped in Arab villages, 7 Jewish women finally find true happiness. 

 Hillel Fendel  1/20/2015

The Yad L'Achim anti-assimilation organization announced that six invitations to Jewish weddings have been received at its offices over the past few weeks – & all from women whom the organization helped rescue from Arab villages.

      In addition, a seventh woman announced that her son – born to an Arab father – will be circumcised in accordance with Jewish tradition – & Yad L'Achim was able to help there as well.

      The organization offers help to women who have become entangled in relationships with Arab men. The general pattern is that the man is kind & caring at first, & becomes hostile & violent after marriage – & the woman often finds herself unable to leave the Arab village to which she had been taken. If she is determined & lucky enough to make contact with Yad L'Achim, the organization often helps, via covert & dangerous means that it does not like to publicize, to extricate her – & her children. The organization then goes further & helps her find her way again in Israeli-Jewish society.

      Yad L'Achim's most recent success occurred just a few days ago, when a 25-year-old woman clandestinely rescued from an Arab village celebrated the ritual circumcision of her new-born son. However, her joy was marred by the absence of her family, which had cut off contact with her when she began her relationship with an Arab. The Yad L'Achim social worker responsible for her case took the initiative, & called the family herself. She explained the situation, including their daughter's suffering, regrets, rescue, longings for her family, & birth – & was successful: The family showed up in full, & the baby's grandfather filled the honored role of Sandak (holding the baby during the brit). Not an eye was left dry.

     In the weeks prior to that, six different women sent invitations to their upcoming weddings to the Yad L'Achim offices. The weddings took place, or will take place, all over Israel, from Haifa in the north to Ashdod in the southwest. The excitement among the organization's workers was palpable - & especially among the social workers who accompany "their" women & help them & their children readjust after their traumatic experiences. In some cases, the social worker was the one to "walk down the aisle" with the bride.

     Hundreds of cases of women who seek "escape" from abusive relationships with non-Jews are reported each year to Yad L'Achim. In most cases, a Muslim man (Arab or Bedouin) is involved, but there are also instances of such relationships with foreign workers or others