For many Jews, though, there is another
step beyond any concern about Christian
overtones. It is, in effect, a 13th step. If
written, it might go something like this:
"As Jews, we recognize that we are not
exempt from addictive behavior simply be-
cause of our religion or our culture. It is,
therefore, OK to admit that
Jews can have addictions and
accept help."
words are filled with four-letter epithets.
He is still not completely "clean."
Three weeks ago, Dennis said, he lost
it. He took a hit of cocaine. He said he was
sorry to no one in particular. He didn't
sound sorry.
"You surrender to the 12 Steps," he said
from his new home in Los Angeles. "The
first big thing is to admit you are power-
less. But it's not such an easy thing to do.
"It's grueling stuff. When you feel bad,
there's something called the Serenity
Prayer. You know, you've it heard before:
`God grant me the ability to accept ...' But
get through to Dennis.
He is a friend of Dennis' parents, who
are from Detroit. He found their son, took
him by the arm, and the two walked past
the crack-house "authorities" back out into
a sticky Florida night.
The rabbi doesn't want to have to face
T
he ends of her long red
hair fell into the brown
Bob's Big Boy coffee
mug. She watched her hair
soak up the liquid. But her
mind was back in the car, dri-
ving around 1-696, near Ryan
and Dequindre roads, getting
the courage to enter an area
church.
"My parents would die if
they knew," Leslie says. "I am
Jewish. This wasn't happen-
ing tome. I kept telling my-
self that I wasn't an alcoholic.
I am."
A drunk is, after all, a
working-class man who hangs
out at the neighborhood bar,
comes home, beats his wife
and falls asleep in a stupor on
the living-room sofa.
Or is he? According to a
JACS spokesperson, although
there are no known statistics
available on rates of addiction
in the Jewish community, it
is estimated rates are the
same as in the general popu-
lation. Perhaps the incidence
of denial is even greater.
"Jews and alcoholism can't
go together, and that's how
many of our people rational- Dr. Rabbi Avra ham Twerski: "A born-again feeling for the recoverin g addict."
ize not getting help," Dr. Twerski says.
when you're not feeling good, you change
`They see it as being a traitor to the faith.
it to the 'fâ it prayer': 'God grant me the
For that reason, many Jews won't go for
power to get high."
help until they're desperate. They'll lose
Rabbi Levi Shemtov is the director of
their family or jobs before they admit they
the Daniel Sobel Friendship Circle, an or-
have a problem."
ganization of the Lubavitch Foundation
"There's a lot of denial in our commu-
based in West Bloomfield that helps peo-
nity about addiction," adds Kim Friner
ple in need. The rabbi did everything he
of Baltimore's Jewish Alcoholic and Drug
could to take that "power to get high" away
Abuse Service. "Jews don't drink; they
from Dennis. If he could have wrestled it
don't do drugs. We do. We are not im-
away from the addict, he would have.
mune."
Instead, he found himself flying from
Or as Dennis, a crack addict originally
Detroit to Boca Raton, where Dennis was
from Franklin, Mich., said, "When I was
living at the time. He wandered around in
growing up, every kid I knew needed to be
a rundown neighborhood, asking where
a millionaire, successful. I still beat my-
to find a young white man. Neighbors,
self up with that, only I used drugs to beat
used to the drug traffic, call the white guys
myself, to deal with the pressure to suc-
"giveaWays"; their skin color tells exactly
ceed."
what they're doing in the area.
Dennis pawned his late grandmother's
The rabbi found his "giveaway" in a
diamond engagement ring to pay the De-
crack
house. Ominous-looking men pack-
troit Edison utility bill. It made perfect
ing guns watched him enter. Inside the
sense. After all, he figured his grand-
crack house, addicts, some wearing their
mother wouldn't have wanted him to go
power ties and business suits, looked
without electricity.
through fibers of floor carpet for any crack
Now, Dennis is clean. He also is angry.
that might have fallen. Rabbi Shemtov
He talks long distance from California.
prayed; he asked God for the strength to
The call is, in a way, therapeutic. His
"MK'S A BORN-AGAIN
FEELING fOR RIE RROVIRING
ADDICc BUT A BORN-MAIN
FEELING IS NOT [NiaSSARILY]
A CHRISTIAN CONall DER.
WHEN A PERSON DOES TESHU-
vAg HE SAYS, 'I AA NOT Tiff
PERSON WHO ABUSED ALCO-
HOL. I AM A NEW PERSON."'
that again. He would, however, if called
upon. He helped get Dennis placed in re-
hab programs in California. Rabbi Shem-
tov still checks on him. It's easy to tell that
he's worried that Dennis will slip again.
The rabbi is a walking, breathing pro-
moter of the 12 Steps. He knows them by
heart, he repeats them, he hands them out
â not only as a pathway for addicts but
as foundation for life for everyone.
He thinks, though, that for the 12 Steps
to work, there's another variable. Friend-
ship.
'Drugs are so available," he said. "They
are everywhere. And no one drops them
from a helicopter on top of an addict. If you
take an addict and put him in any strange
city, give him' 30 minutes and he'll find
drugs."
He speaks at his dining-room table. A
photo of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe is in
sight. He looks upward a lot and hopes out
loud that Dennis and others he works with
will turn away from drugs.
Drug addicts as well as other victims of
addiction turn to groups ranging from
Narcotics Anonymous to Overeaters Anony-
rn
C)
CD
CO
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