Hebrew Free Loan Society Launching Program for Domestic Abuse Victims

Allison Kessler needed help.

She was stuck in an abusive marriage and had more than $100,000 in credit card debt due to frozen bank accounts from the divorce proceedings.

Kessler couldn’t get help from domestic violence shelters because she had not been hit. She couldn’t get assistance from legal aid centers because she made too much money as a therapist.

To complete her divorce proceedings, Kessler needed to pay her lawyer a retainer. That was when a friend told her about Dinah, the local nonprofit that offers legal services to women in domestic abuse situations. And it was Dinah that connected her to the Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia.

HFLS gave Kessler a $4,000 loan.

It was all she needed.

Today, Kessler has a new house and primary custody of her children. In October, they enjoyed their first Shabbat together in their new home.

And HFLS Philadelphia is building a new program inspired in part by Kessler’s story. Called Shalom Bayit, which means peace and harmony within the home and family, and in partnership with Dinah, the program establishes “a free loan fund specifically for women who are leaving domestic violence and need financial help for legal, housing, or other expenses,” Executive Director Anna Marx said in an email.

The program was made possible by a two-year, $72,000 grant from Women of Vision, part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Marx and Shana Weiner, the executive director of Dinah, see it as a way to help women like Kessler.

“What happens in the realm of social services is there’s this income threshold that a lot of organizations use. Generally, you have to earn below a certain threshold,” Weiner said. “That leaves a lot of people out who don’t qualify for public services but don’t have enough money to hire an attorney.”

When Kessler connected with Dinah, she was about $120,000 in debt. She was working 60 hours a week, but she couldn’t make minimum credit card payments.

Her husband also continued to barge into their house, watch TV and eat her food. When he wasn’t allowed in, he would rack up rentals on Kessler’s streaming services.

At one point, Kessler reset his Amazon Fire TV Stick, only to have him barge in and push her against the wall. Their two kids heard the crying from upstairs. Kessler went to court the next morning to get a Protection from Abuse order.

She got the order, but she still hadn’t been hit.

“My situation was bad. But I probably wouldn’t have been killed. Is this really abuse if he’s not putting his hands on me?” Kessler recalled thinking.

She also couldn’t tap into their bank accounts because her lawyer had advised her not to. Her husband had already taken six figures out and moved it to a separate account that they couldn’t trace.

But when she called HFLS, Marx and her team didn’t care how much she made.

“Within a week, my sister cosigned the loan and the money was in my account,” Kessler said.

Kessler paid her legal fees, got money from the sale of her home and completed her divorce. Today, she says she’s “struggling just as much as the next person, just not more.”

She paid back the HFLS loan, though she’s still dealing with some credit card debt. Recently, she went on vacation with her kids.

“I’m able to go to a water park for two days with my kids without feeling like I can’t do anything,” she said.

The partnership between HFLS and Dinah is about providing loans and legal referrals to clients in Kessler’s situation, according to Marx and Weiner.

“They need money right now. Whether it’s to hire an attorney or putting a deposit on an apartment or fixing their car or whatever it may be,” Weiner said. “Having that money is the piece that gets them from not safe to safe.”

HFLS should be able to keep the program going because it’s a loan program. Recipients pay the money back, or forward.

“It will go on in perpetuity,” Marx said.

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