Learn and Return (formerly Learn and Live), an organization that works to prevent Jewish girls from getting trapped in abusive relationships with Arabs,asks the public to daven for the safe return of a 22-year-old girl whose whereabouts are unknown.

The phenomenon of Arab men courting Jewish girls has escalated in recent years. Israel’s hotlines receive over 1,000 requests a year from girls trapped in Arab villages. A 2013 Knesset report stated that close to 1,000 girls were “voluntarily missing.”

Michaela, a resident of Ofakim, southern Israel, became involved with an Arab in 2013. Typically, the relationship begins with the Arab – often disguised as a Jew – showering the girl with gifts and attention. The relationship turns to abuse as the Arab threatens the girl and her family if she tries to break off with him. Learn and Return provides counseling, job assistance, and a shelter in Jerusalem to help girls end the relationship and rebuild their lives.

Learn and Return’s counselors had been in ongoing contact with Michaela, encouraging and supporting her to leave the relationship. However, this month, when Michaela was supposed to enter the shelter, she failed to contact the rescue worker and has not answered her cell phone for two days. Activists fear that she has been taken to an Arab village against her will. The public is asked to daven for the safe return of Michaela bas Nurit.

Learn and Return has rescued over 350 Jewish girls from Arab villages, and hundreds more from abusive relationships with Arabs. For more information, visit www.learnandreturn.org.il