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By: Zvi Gluck
If only we could turn back the hands of time.
One year ago today, we were living what we certainly should have considered to be charmed lives. Sure, we all had worries and concerns that had us furrowing our collective brows, but everything was so much simpler back then. Our schools, our businesses and our shuls were able to open freely every day and we didn’t need permission from anyone to visit our friends and relatives. There were no masks. No lockdowns. No lives unspeakably torn away from us by an unseen monster that came seemingly out of nowhere.
But here we are about to close the books on another calendar year. Having lived through a pandemic, a first for virtually all of us, we are older, wiser and undoubtedly more aware of what matters most in this world. The loss of life, lingering health problems, financial setbacks and emotional crises of the pandemic have left many of us scarred, something we see all too well at Amudim, where struggles that our typically experienced by our regular clients have seemingly gone viral.
The numbers are, literally, off the charts. This past year alone, Amudim has seen a 59 percent increase in addiction cases, a 55 percent spike in domestic violence cases, a 74 percent rise in sexual abuse cases and a whopping 150 percent surge in mental health cases. It hasn’t been easy keeping up with the volume of calls even as our financial base has been hard hit, but our case managers have risen to the occasion even as they have been working remotely under less than ideal circumstances and deluged with pleas for help. We launched multiple new initiatives to help people weather the storm – a free COVID support line staffed by more than 100 mental health professions answered nearly 3,000 calls during its six months of operations, while a dedicated coronavirus page on our website provided a wealth of information including a full video library of newly created content for both adults and children, addressing the pandemic in a meaningful way.
COVID heralded other changes as well. Facing an extended lockdown is tough on anyone, but for those who have been abused by someone within their own homes, it was an untenable situation and Amudim stepped in to find them safe lodging and food, a particular challenge as Pesach loomed. The word “Zooming” took on an all meaning as video conferences suddenly became a primary form of communication and a godsend for those who normally attend support groups, with 3,033 participants attending 156 Zoom meetings hosted by Amudim.
But most of all, the pandemic opened all of our eyes to the struggles that Amudim’s clients face on a daily basis. The lengthy quarantine sparked feelings of isolation, stress, anxiety, despondency and depression for so many people, those difficulties further compounded by the notion that there was literally no end to the darkness that had engulfed our world. It has been a year where we have all tasted what it is like to live in crisis, giving us a greater ability to understand the fear and chaos that our clients experience, even in a small way.
Thankfully, the promise of a vaccine brings with it the knowledge that there is an end in sight to this disastrous outbreak and we can finally dream of a day when our lives will slowly return to a semblance of what they were before. As we emerge from COVID, both bruised and empowered and look ahead to a brighter future, let us all do our part for those who continue to struggle with issues large and small, doing everything we possibly can to support them in their time of need.
We have walked a mile in their shoes. Now that we have seen a glimmer of what their lives are like, how can we ever let them down?
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Zvi Gluck is the CEO of Amudim, an organization dedicated to helping abuse victims and those suffering with addiction within the Jewish community and has been heavily involved in crisis intervention and management for the past 21 years. For more information go to www.amudim.org.