THE 12 STEPS: A JEWISH ANGII A great deal has been written — from Maimonides to modern thinkers — about recovery. The following is a list of the 12 Steps followed by Jewish commentary, both biblical and contemporary. Step 1 -- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanage- able. Step 6 — We're entirely ready to have God re- move all these defects of character. "On Yom Kippur, I would sit there with a terrible hangover, a part of me praying that God would let me live another year, a part of me hoping that God would let me die." — 12 Jewish Steps To Recovery Step 7 — Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcoming& "Spiritual guidance directed at improving one's sense of worth is thus helpful in facilitating the first step and "God blew into his nostrils a spirit of life, and man initiating recovery." — Rabbi Abraham Twerski became a living being." Genesis (11:7) "The 'we' is important. Both Judaism and AA em phasize community and the support it offers each mem- ber." --- Twelve Jewish Steps To Recovery 11-.1 . - 0:111901s1 $. BY CWARCULUS Confessions before God which include: 1. Naming the specific sin 2. Statement of regret at having sinned 3. Expression of shame felt at having sinned 4. Pledge not to repeat the same sin — Mai- monides' The Laws of Repentance Step 2 Came to believe that a pow- er greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. "The Talmud states that God's assistance to man is indispensable. 'Assistance' implies that one is taking some action but needs help. A person must do everything within his pow- er to make his life constructive and produc- tive." — Rabbi Twerski THE DETR OI T JEWIS H NEWS Step 4 — Made a searching and fear- less moral inventory of ourselves. "One-must repeatedly confide in another person, whether spiritual counselor or trusted friend, all im- proper thoughts and impulses which come to one's heart and mind." -- Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk, writing in his Brief List for Proper Living Step 11 -- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious con- tact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. "Make His will your will, and negate your will before His." — Ethics of the Fathers "At first, you may be shy when it comes to talking about your recovery or your relation- ship to God through Judaism. It takes time. But it's important to talk about the 12 Steps in the context of Torah. Listen to the words of our tradition: `If three have eaten at the same table and have not spoken words of Torah, it's as if they had made sacrifices to dead idols.' God's will is not in their thoughts. 'But if three have eaten at the same table and the words of Torah were spoken, it's as if they had eaten at the table of God.'"— Pirke Avot 3:3 as writ- ten in Twelve Jewish Steps to Recovery Step 3 --- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Step 5 -- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. "Taking a personal inventory on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is not sufficient. This must be an ongoing process. The need for recognizing a wrong and prompt- ly admitting it is stressed by the Talmud. The longer one delays in admitting a sin, the more apt he is to ex- plain away and justify his behavior, until the sin may even appear as the right course of action." — Rabbi Twerski Step 12 -- Having had a spiritual awak- ening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our af- fairs. "A person's temptation becomes more in- tense each day, and were it not that God helps him, it would be impossible for him to resist" --- Talmud (Sukkah, 52b) "Live by the commandments; do not die by them." --- Talmud, Sanhedrin, 7A "Be honest and open with yourself Ac- knowledge what you have found and move forward. But remember Only you know what you have found. You will have to do something about it -- but you don't have to tell others until you are ready." — 12 Jewish Steps To Recovery Step 10 — Continued to take personal inven- tory, and when we were wrong, promptly admit- ted it. Step 8 -- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Step 9 — Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. The Shulchan Aruch, or Code of Jewish Law, states that all the atonement possible is ineffective if an in- dividual has harmed another, unless forgiveness from the victim has been sought. The Twelve Steps are reprinted with per- mission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Ser- vices, Inc. Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed here- in. AAis a program of recovery from alcoholism only — use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are pat- terned after AA, but which address other prob- lems, or in any other non-AA context, does not imply otherwise. All excerpts from Twelve Jewish Steps To Recovery: A Personal Guide to Turning From Alcoholism and Other Addictions , by Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky and Stu- art A. Copans, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1991. $12.95 plus $3.50 s/h. P.O. Box 237 Woodstock, VT 05091. Per- mission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing.