Help For Addiction
Rabbi implores community to expand
substance abuse program.
His father suffered his seventh, and
fatal,
heart attack when Mark was
Special to the Jewish News
just 14 years old.
"I guess I went nuts," Rabbi
rabbi with a rap sheet is
Borovitz
said. "I lost my moral and
not your typical clergy-
spiritual
compass."
man. But, then, very little
Feeling intensely adrift and aching
has been conventional
inside over the tremendous financial
about the life of Rabbi Mark
hardships placed upon his mother as
Borovitz.
the family's wage earner, he turned to
The Los Angeles-based spiritual
the local barber, a Mafia fence.
leader of Gateways Beit T'Shuvah
"He got me involved with fencing
visited the Detroit area Sept. 6 to
expensive
merchandise," Rabbi
share his message of renewal and
Borovitz
said.
rehabilitation with people and profes-
Funneling earnings
sionals concerned
through his older
about alcoholism and
brother to his mother
substance abuse.
so she wouldn't suspect
Beit T'Shuvah
the underage boy of
(Hebrew for "House
illegal doings, he kept
of Return") is a 110-
escalating
his activities
bed, residential treat-
until
a
life
of crime was
ment facility unique-
second
nature.
ly combining the
"I was making $300-
tenets of Judaism, the
$400 a week, which
12-step program and
was a lot of money
psychotherapy to heal
back in 1967. At the
those wounded by
same time, I was presi-
various addictions.
dent of my USY
Rabbi Borovitz's
[United Synagogue
visit was sponsored
Youth] chapter," he
by Detroit's Jewish
said.
Family Service, which Rabbi Mark Borovitz
And he davened for
launched its
his father.
Addictions and
"But what I didn't do to respect my
Quality Improvement Program six
father
was to keep his name clean."
months ago under the direction of
The
double life couldn't last forev-
social worker Gloria Allum, who also
er. Following graduation, and after
runs its JAGS (Jews, Addicts,
numerous short jail terms, he eventu-
Chemically Dependent Persons and
ally ended up in prison.
Significant Others) support group.
"If Rabbi Ed Feinstein had not
After meeting with the Michigan
befriended me, I might still be there,"
Board of Rabbis, he addressed a group
Rabbi Borovitz believes.
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek B'nai
He told how Rabbi Feinstein told
Israel in West Bloomfield.
him,
"Of course, I won't cut you
Delivering a monologue dramatic
loose. You are one of ours."
enough for a movie script, Rabbi
"That was in 1987," said Rabbi
Borovitz offered a poignant glimpse
Borovitz. "I cried like a baby. I hadn't
into the deviant life he led before a
cried since my father died in 1965."
compassionate rabbi refused to aban-
He read the biblical story of Jacob,
don him.
who
had his own demons, and later
"I had an FBI sheet that was five
turned
his life around. He studied
pages long," the 50-year-old former
with Rabbi Feinstein.
alcoholic confessed to a rapt audience
in the synagogue chapel.
A Cleveland native, the youthful
Reclaiming His Soul
rabbi had low self-esteem and preva-
"I made a serious conversion back to
lent feelings of worthlessness.
my own soul," said Rabbi Borovitz.
"The only person who seemed to
During his preparation for the rab-
value my soul was my father," he
binate,
he married Harriet Rossetto,
said.
DEBBIE WALLIS LANDAU
A
HELP on page 54
Call 1-800-Bagel-Me for a location near you. www.einsteinbros.com
9 /2 1
2001
53