“It’s hard to believe I put up with it for so long. Looking back at my diary, I see over and over: “I swear I’m breaking up with him this weekend.” “The next time I see him, I’m going to tell him it’s over.” He kept telling me that we were soul mates, that we’d never find anyone we loved as much as each other, and I believed him despite the fact that he checked out and rated every girl we came across. I wanted so much to believe that someone loved me completely, that I wasn’t alone. My friends and family all hated him, and I felt like I was always defending him, defending my choice, like I couldn’t see him clearly because I was pulling so hard to protect him from this onslaught of criticism. It wasn’t just a question of love. It was “only an idiot would go out with a horrible person for more than two years. I am not an idiot, therefore he isn’t a horrible person.”   Healing and Wholeness: A Resouce Guide on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community, Edited by Diane Gardsbane, Jewish Women International, 2002