Although thousands of synagogue attendees have heard the message that religious texts do not condone domestic abuse and the Jewish community is a place of support and and safety for victims, speaking out against abuse is not yet commonplace in the Jewish community.

In most communities, these are new—-perhaps even radical—-messages to hear from the pulpit. In the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, however, speaking out against domestic violence is becoming more common due to the Spiritual Speakout for Violence-Free Families, a sermon competition spearheaded by the Initiative for Violence-Free Families.

IVFF’s competition was held exclusively for seminary students in Minnesota because organizers wanted to reach out to a group of clergy at an impressionable time in their careers. “There are no Jewish seminaries in our state, but we want to encourage the use of the Spiritual Speakout model with any community who wants to use it as a way to motivate more clergy to use the pulpit to address domestic violence. We would love to see this work spread through seminaries of all faiths,” said project staffer Lois Gunderson.

In addition to the individuals and communities in the Twin Cities who have been touched by these messages, the impact of the Spiritual Speakout is beginning to expand, as evidenced by the number of visits to the agency’s website.

IVFF publishes a selection of top-ranked sermons for clergy at www.ivff.org/ivff/sermonhomepage.htm.

For details on how to run a Spiritual Speakout in your community, contact Lois Gunderson directly at 612-728-2094 or lois.gunderson@fcsmn.org.