Eating disorders affect 3% of the general population and sadly, the Jewish population is proving no exception to this scourge. Ohr Naava and the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services (JBFCS) are proud to announce a night dedicated to stopping eating disorders in the Jewish community. The event will take place tomorrow, Thursday, August 21st at 7 P.M. at Ohr Naava, located at 2201 East 23rd Street in Brooklyn. Organized by the Lazar Consulting Group, the event is the first in the Ohr Naava Awareness series of lectures, scheduled to tackle various issues affecting the Jewish community at large.
“JBFCS has invested time and talent to address eating disorders in the orthodox community. In fact, our Boro Park MBCS counseling center is the first of our clinics to have such a highly trained eating disorders specialist (Ariella Rosenthal) exactly because we see the issue as a crucial unmet need in this community. We are proud to help fill that gap,” Paul Levine, Executive Vice President and CEO of JBFCS said.
Similarly, Joe Lazar of the Lazar Consulting Group said: “Our community has all of the same problems as the rest of the world, we’ve just not chosen to deal with them until now.”
The event will feature two speakers, Martin Fisher, MD, Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine and Medical Director of the Eating Disorder Program of Schneider Children’s Hospital and Ariella Rosenthal, LCSW, an Eating Disorder Specialist at JBFCS.
Dr. Fisher will speak on the signs and dangers of an eating disorder and Ms. Rosenthal will speak afterwards about methods and interventions used for eating disorders. As with all Ohr Naava events, admission and dinner are free of charge.
Ohr Naava, founded in 2004 by Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, in loving memory of Naava Katlowitz a”h is a leading women’s center in Brooklyn. Ohr Naava offers free evening shuirim every weeknight as well as free dinner and a variety of other classes and programs. More information about the Eating Disorder program and other Ohr Naava events are available by calling 718-OHR-NAAV(a).
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9 Responses
I work for a social service agency in the frum community and I applaud The Jewish Board and Orh Nava for co-sponsoring this evening highlighting the problem of eating disorders in our community. We have to educate the community about ther problem and, thereby, IY”H hopefully make a dent in the prevention of this sad and dangerous illness.
Thank you Yeshiva World for bringing this event to our attention.
What is it going to take for the community and Yeshiva World to confront the problem of sexual molestation/ abuse in our schools and our community?
The Toirah is the blueprint for the world and we are supposed to look to the Toirah for the path that we should follow in every area of our lives. The Toirah does not shy away from describing incidents that we today think of as untzinus and we, therefore, totally ignore, as if somehow that will make it go away. That is not the Toirah way.
Does the Toirah not speak about Dina? Yehudah and Tamar? Dovid and Bat Sheva? etc. etc. There is a message there! The Rebon Shel Olam, Himself, is showing us the right path and we think that we are frumer? The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
We have a respnsibilty to protect our children and grandchildren. Who else is going to do it? By refusing to address the problem we are leaving our children vulnerable to this terrible crime which leaves life long scars and damage to our children Ch”V”Sh. I have personally seen some of these scars not only in the direct victims but even in their spouses and children.
I’m not telling anyone how to present the problem to the public. Obviously that needs to be decided by our chashuveh Rabbonim. But please, everyday that we delay addressing this disease that is spreading in our community we we are putting our “kinderlach” at greater risk!
Please, please, let’s not be frumer than The Toirah. Let us do everything we can to protect our kinderlach.
please advise if there are any orginization that fund for these problems, there are a lot of peaple suffering from this & they dont have money to go for help
Please consider the fact that shidduchim plays an important part in the epidemic of eating disorders among frum girls. Until you get the male population to understand that their wives do not have to be a size 0, 2, or 4, not much is going to change in this regard. It is totally ironic that in many, but not all, cases, it is the yeshivish man (or his mother) as opposed to someone more modern who focuses on dress size. And it doesn’t stop there. Questions are also asked about how her mother looks. What a sad state we are in. (Another problem is when a skinny wife gets pregnant and is worried about gaining too much weight. She may not eat properly, which may affect the health of her baby.)
#1, excellent post! ‘Nuff said.
The so-called problem of eating disorders originates from the very real fear that the chicken might be treife? or that the marshmellow contains non chlov yisroel ingredient….or that the pareve candy is not glatt
#5 this is not a joke. I dont know where you get your information from. I have not heard one person who suffers from a eating disorder say it was because of the “hecsher” alot of them suffer from low self esteem, or other problems which are not so stright forward. Hashem should give strength to all those who are suffering and to the families aswell.
Regarding “Bas Yiroel’s” post, it is appropriate that you brought in the issue of child abuse to this discussion. There is a large body of psychological research showing that there is a significantly higher rate of abuse survivors in the eating disordered population. Sexual abuse in particular, and bulimia in particular appear to be highly correlated. Some theories suggest that issues revolving around shame and guilt and a sense of powerlessness that are produced by the trauma of sexual abuse causes some people to develop maladaptive body image along with behaviors that attempt to control their body. In some cases, sexual abuse survivors are trying unconsciuosly to avoid being abused. In others they are attempting to perform a slow kind of suicide in which they quietly dissapear.
While the prevalence of abuse in our community has not been adequately studied, those of us mental health professionals working in our community all know that this problem is widespread enough to suggest that addressing it more openly would help curb much of the mental illness including eating disorders.
Yasher Koach to the Lazar group, JBFCS and Ohr Nava for bringing an important mental health issue
that the public needs to be informed about into the light of day. Now, it would be equally important, like Bas Yisroel says above for groups like yours to educate and elighten our community on the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse.
Asher Lipner, Ph.D.
#6 –much thanx for your insightful opinions. I get my information from The Journal Of Jewish Medical Issues and Hashkofah, April 2005. Just because you haven’t heard of the FOK(Fear of Kashrus) syndrome, doesn’t mean it does not exist.
I agree that Hashem should enable these people from overcoming their fear.
People overuse the term eating disorder, as throwing at the terms “she doesnt eat a thing” she is anorexic skinny” people dont even know what they are talking about. I am not denying that their is a problem, after spending a year in seminary i see how there are girls who really would eat one item a day, and then work out in the gym for 3 hours to loose that. It is also scary how it affects the person so, I couldnt be friends w/ my friends after they stop eating because they change who they are, and theres always one thing on their mind-food. There is definatly a big problem in the frum community, but I think as well people should be careful before titling people, unless they asked a sheila. please bring mashiach fast, we cant deal with all this!