Fighting Addiction
How Jewish substance abusers become whole again.
DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaffWriter
A
dozen middle-aged Jewish
men crowd around the dining
room table of a West
Bloomfield home. They wear
jeans and cross-trainers, and the closest
they come to a yarmulke is a single back-
wards-facing baseball cap.
Yet, with the intensity of yeshivah
boys, they hang on to every word uttered
by the young Lubavitch rabbi at the head
of the table.
Members of the Friendship Circle
Fellowship Program, these men are all
recovering addicts, hoping to find self-
worth and meaning through the study of
Jewish mysticism.
The 27-year-old rabbi leading the
study session is Yisrael Pinson, the
"recovery rabbi" of the Friendship Circle,
a Lubavitch-based community assistance
program. In addition to this weekly ses-
sion, he holds recovery group meetings
and Shabbat dinners at his home. He
also will drive across town to retrieve
addicts who have fallen off the wagon or
offer his own guestroom to those who've
been thrown out by their families.
Rabbi Pinson says his job is to be a
loving friend, a conduit to therapy, not
the end-all and be-all of addiction recov-
ery.
"No one says, 'I don't need a therapist;
I see the rabbi,"' he says.
percent and others, 3.7 percent."
Seventy-one percent of the 379 respon-
dents reported dual addictions, with alco-
hol the most common drug indicated as
a secondary addiction.
"Chemically dependent Jewish people
and their families exist and need help,"
the researchers conclude, "but those who
seek recovery are often unable to find the
help they need within their own commu-
nity. The study demonstrates that chemi-
cally dependent Jews respond to the same
therapeutic methods that help other alco-
holics and addicts."
The data collected by Vex and Blume
came only from self-identified substance
abusers, and those were mostly from the
New York metropolitan area. So their
results obviously represent only the tip of
the iceberg.
The number of Jewish addicts who
remain uncounted — those who refuse
to seek help, or even to admit to them-
selves that they have a problem —
remains an open question, the authors
write.
One Mans- Story
"Essentially, when I grew up, everything
seemed normal on the outside," says Eric
Paskel, 36, of West Bloomfield. "But I
was lost from a very young age, not feel-
ing part of anything."
Paskel, who has been in recovery since
he was 18 years old, is outspoken about
his addiction. "My philosophy is every-
body should know about my problem,"
Accepting Jewish Addiction
he says.
"This is my teshuvah (repentance)."
Until recently, however, most substance
abusers in the Jewish community denied
Growing up in West Bloomfield,
Paskel had plenty of money. He was an
they needed addiction therapy of any
athlete and seemed popular. "But there
type — spiritual, psychiatric, emotional
or otherwise.
was some mechanism in me. My nerves
never felt connected; I never felt secure in
They, their families, synagogues and
any environment.
communities had fallen for one of the
"I guess all adolescents experience feel-
most persistent positive stereotypes about Eric Paskel wears a Jewish star and carries a sobriety coin from Alcoholics Anonymous.
ings like this," he says, "but all adolescents
Jewish people. Both in the larger society
Researchers Susan Lind Vex and Dr. Sheila B.
don't sell their parents' jewelry, rob from their friends'
and among Jews themselves, the accepted belief was
Blume, who began collecting data for their article in
houses and go to Detroit and buy crack."
"Jews don't drink; Jews don't have a problem with
1998, say one of their most surprising discoveries was
Instead of dealing with problems, an addict's
drugs."
"the incredulity of several colleagues, who had to be
response is running away, deadening his feelings, Paskel
But recent studies prove otherwise.
reassured that, 'yes, Jewish alcoholics and other drug
says.
"It is evident that being a Jew does not protect one
addicts exist, in sufficient numbers to be studied quan-
"The first thing I did after the first time I smoked
from becoming alcoholic," write the authors of
titatively.'"
marijuana was steal money, go to school and ask,
"Characteristics of a Population of Chemically
According to their research, "alcohol was the primary
Dependent Jewish Men and Women," an article pub-
`Where can I buy more,'" he remembers. "Next thing,
drug for 54.7 percent of the total chemical dependents;
I was in the principal's office."
lished in 2001 by the Journal of Addictive Diseases. The
cocaine, 11.8 percent; opiates, 11.6 percent; marijuana,
He calls the next six years "a downhill spiral."
article also finds that "exceptionally high levels of
11.3 percent; tranquilizers, 2.4 percent; amphetamines,
"My parents threw me out," he says. "They had a
income and education are not unusual for the Jewish
2.4 percent; sedatives, 1.8 percent; hallucinogens, .3
bodyguard to make sure I couldn't get near them.',
chemical dependent.'=
1/30
2004
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