Jewish Denial, Recovery

New advances aid those seeking to end substance abuse.

Jewish 12-Step

Dr. Jay Kutinsky: "To this day, Jewish people

Rabbi Joseph Krupnick of Windsor; Leslie Kleiman of Morris Kosher Poultry,

don't like to admit that Jewish people are
alcoholics and addicts."

distributors of pre-packaged kosher meals; Joanne Reid, Brighton food
service director; and Richard Kramer, president of the Brighton National

Addiction Foundation, celebrate Brighton Hospital's kosher meals program.

Judith Doner Berne
Special to the Jewish News

R

ecognition that Jews become addicted to drugs and/or
alcohol at the same rate as the general population is still a
hard pill for the Jewish community to swallow.
That's according to Dr. Julian Kutinsky of Farmington Hills who
specializes in treating addiction.
"When I grew up, my parents used the expression `Shirker is a
goy: meaning Jewish people don't get drunk," said Kutinsky, a mem-
ber of Congregation Shaarey Zedek Southfield.
Although alcoholism was officially declared a disease in the mid-
1950s,"to this day, Jewish people don't like to admit that Jewish
people are alcoholics and addicts' Kutinsky said.
That denial is compounded by the fact Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) 12-step programs, long held as
key to recovery, have traditionally been situated in churches, he said.
But Kutinsky sees progress — both in improving treatment
and reducing stigma — in this often-inherited disease that affects
people medically, emotionally and spiritually.
Newly developed medications afford easier withdrawal from opi-
ates and can take away the compulsion to drink and block the effect
of an illegal drug. As a result, "the percentage of recovering addicts is
increasing each year," he said.
At the same time, Jewish institutions have stopped denying
the problem, stepping up to host 12-step meetings and support
groups for affected relatives (see related story) and to team up
with area hospitals treating substance abuse.
Books, such as Twelve Jewish Steps to Recovery by Rabbi Kerry M.
Olitzky and testimony by nationally known Jewish substance abuse
experts such as Rabbi Abraham Twerski have eased the way for
Jewish addicts into 12-step programs.
"All of the 12 steps are basically concepts from the Old Testament','
Kutinsky believes. "On Yom Kippur, what do you do? You accept a

higher power into your life, take regular inventories, correct charac-
ter defects, make amends to those you have harmed and help other
people!' Those are the basics of the 12 steps.
"Even in the Old Testament, people drank too much and were
taken over by the devil:' he said.
Kutinsky, who trained as an internist, became one of the state's
first addictionalogists after his own recovery from years of addiction
to street drugs, prescription drugs and alcohol.
"I couldn't stop drinking. I drank and did cocaine every day,' he
said. "I didn't drink while I was working, but I couldn't work long
hours and I had to use medicines to stop my shaking!'
Counted among the estimated 10 to 15 percent of health care
professionals who abuse alcohol and/or drugs sometime during
their career, Kutinsky was in danger of having his medical license
revoked by an earlier version of the Michigan Health Professional
Recovery Program on which he later served.
His home life disintegrated. "My kids didn't want to be around
me. My house was a dead house
Desperate to turn his life around, he staggered to his first AA
meeting. "I walked out of that meeting May 1, 20 years ago, and I
had hope I could be normal.
"God must have found me that day,' he said, "because I never took
another drink or drug. I love my life!'
His family embraces his sobriety.
His wife, Lesley, is active in Al-Anon which supports loved ones
of those in recovery. She both sponsors a number of Al-Anon par-
ticipants and is at the forefront of "Meetings on Wheels" which takes
meetings to college campuses and treatment centers to encourage
new participants.
Their children — liana, an electro-physiologist at William
Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak; Dana, a California architect; and
Adam, an attorney with Kitch Attorneys & Counselors — "are so

Denial on page A28

"I don't want to go to a church; I
want to go to a synagogue," a newly
recovering addict told Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz in 1992.
"My board was all for it," said
Schwartz, and Temple Shir Shalom
in West Bloomfield became the first
Metro Detroit Jewish house of wor-
ship to host meetings of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
"Jews as well as non-Jews come,"
said Schwartz, whose temple now is
home to AA, Al-Anon and Alateen
meetings and has recently partnered
with Brighton Hospital, a leading
chemical dependency center.
"It's an epidemic," he said, citing .
"three kids in our community who
recently died from overdoses within
a week or two. Every congregation
in the city should be doing it (host
ing 12-step meetings). That's what
sanctuary should be."
"It allows people who have pre-
conceived notions of AA to become
part of it in a non-threatening
environment," said Rabbi Yisrael
Pinson, director of the Daniel Sobel
Friendship House, also in West
Bloomfield, which hosts AA/NA and
other recovery meetings.
"It's also a chance to meet other
Jewish people in recovery who can
support each other in a Jewish way,"
Rabbi Pinson said.
For Richard L., who describes
himself as "a purebred Jew," holding
12-step meetings in a Jewish setting
"shouldn't make a difference but it
can make a difference" in helping
Jewish addicts.
"In a perfect world it shouldn't
matter," the Novi attorney says.
"But for the same reasons Catholics
might feel more comfortable attend-
ing a meeting in a Catholic church,
Jews might be more comfortable in
a Jewish setting."
He recalls 20 years ago, when
he first sought help. "My dad was
concerned I would have to abdicate
my Jewishness." Instead, "My best
friends in AA are Jewish and my best
friend in the whole world is a Jewish
guy I met in AA 21 years ago."

- Judith Doner Berne

January 31 • 2008

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