[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

By: Yossi Stern

We live in a world of unprecedented danger, where both adults and children are faced with challenges that can have potentially devastating consequences. Years of denial and decades of pretending that these issues have not managed to infiltrate our lives have only exacerbated these problems, creating what seems like an unstoppable epidemic of crises that have touched virtually every segment of the Jewish community.

Amudim was founded a little over a year go on the triple tenets of kindness, compassion and dignity and as a concerted effort to confidentially address these issues in the Jewish community. Understanding that trauma results from crisis and affects not just the victim but also everyone around them, Amudim has evolved to offer support and guidance to individuals and families who have been impacted by abuse, neglect and addiction, as well as being actively involved in autopsy prevention and burial coordination worldwide.

Rabbi Zvi Gluck, director of Amudim, has long been known for his involvement in causes of all kinds, using his energy, passion and persistence to solve complex problems and identify long term solutions that will result in growth and productivity. Amudim operates under the guidance of Rav Elya Brudny shlita and employs a full staff of experienced and talented individuals including case workers Moshe Frankel, Rabbi Avraham Klatzco and Sara Kagan, who field the many calls that come in daily, and director of special projects Rabbi Avraham Feldman. Board members Mendy Klein, Moshe Wolfson, Adam Westreich and Adam Sokol are all heavily involved in the workings at Amudim whose impressive advisory board includes Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald, Barry Horowitz LCSW, Dr. Shloime Zimmerman and Dr. David Pelcovitz.

220 people including private practice clinicians, rabbis, educators, therapists, clinical directors, social workers, philanthropists and heads of major organizations gathered in Newark last winter for a groundbreaking conference hosted by Amudim to discuss risk, trauma and abuse in the Jewish community. Participants spent a significant part of the two day event devising effective strategies to deal with these issues, brainstorming in groups to identify concrete goals that could be implemented both in the long and the short term and a $1 million fund designated to provide therapy to Orthodox Jewish abuse victims in the tri-state area was announced at the conference. The event also featured divrei Torah by Rabbi YY Jacobson, Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein and Rabbi Brudny, each of whom spoke about the importance of addressing these sensitive issues within the frum community.

Amudim typically handles 50 cases at any given time and fields approximately ten to twelve new calls each week. Calls run the gamut, ranging from families who discover that their children are involved with drugs, to dealing with at risk kids, to resolving abuse issues that can date back dozens of years and suddenly surface without warning, often with disastrous results.

In an effort to continue providing support services to the many people who seek their assistance, Amudim is raffling off a two year lease for a Chrysler Town and Country minivan or $5,000 to be used towards any lease through Plaza Auto Leasing. Funds raised by this campaign will be used to defray the cost of therapy for those who cannot afford treatment, with the raffle drawing to take place on the last day of Chanukah,

Monday December 14th.

For more information visit Amudim online at www.amudim.org or call 646-517-0222