{"id":20381,"date":"2016-08-26T00:31:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T07:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=20381"},"modified":"2016-08-25T10:01:05","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T17:01:05","slug":"jacs-vancouver-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/08\/26\/jacs-vancouver-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"JACS Vancouver launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Paul Steinberg first read The Big Book<\/em>, the \u201cbible\u201d of Alcoholics Anonymous, written by founder Bill Wilson, he scribbled disagreements in the margins. His sponsor later saw them and took him to task. \u201cDo you really think you know more than Bill Wilson, who wrote a book that has saved the lives of millions of people?\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s time for you to start looking for things you can connect with in the book, not things you disagree with!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo
Beit T\u2019Shuvah Rabbi Paul Steinberg helps launch JACS Vancouver on Sept. 8. (photo from beittshuvah.org<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steinberg took the advice to heart, and a journey began. He is now the rabbi of L.A.-based Beit T\u2019Shuvah, a Jewish centre for addiction recovery that integrates the wisdom of the 12-step program with Jewish spirituality, culture and community. He will be speaking at Congregation Beth Israel, together with Rebecca Denham of Jewish Addiction Community Services Vancouver, on Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. The event, which officially launches JACS Vancouver, is called Opening the Door: A Conversation about Addiction in the Jewish Community.<\/p>\n

Steinberg first came to Beit T\u2019Shuvah, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, as a rabbi, a Jewish educator and an alcoholic looking for healing. After living there for five months in recovery, he began doing part-time spiritual counseling as part of the centre\u2019s work therapy program. Eventually, he took on that role full time, then became the pulpit rabbi of the centre\u2019s synagogue, a congregation with hundreds of attendees on Shabbat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe centre is unusual in many ways, one of which is in having a synagogue with a fully functioning congregational life on site,\u201d Steinberg told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cThe congregation is made up mostly of residents of the centre, alumni and their family members. Being so close to Hollywood, we have an amazing roster of artists and musicians who come to shul here \u2013 the music rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg\u2019s rebirth was dependent on his discovering a deeper Judaism, and that is something he is passionate about sharing with other Jews in recovery. \u201cWe believe, as evidenced by the success of the 12-step program, that the spiritual is essential in recovery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Steinberg published the book Recovery, the 12 Steps and Jewish Spirituality: Reclaiming Hope, Courage and Wholeness<\/em>, about his journey and the insights it afforded. He explained that, for many Jews, the 12 steps are uncomfortably associated with Christian spirituality, despite the open-ended approach to God in the method. \u201cSome Jews recoil from AA for that reason. We need to give Jews access to the 12-step structure in Jewish terms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe addict\u2019s world is very narrow, obsessive, self-centred. Opening up and surrendering to a greater power \u2013 whether that\u2019s thought of as God, the universe, the Dao, the collective spirit \u2013 breaks that entrapment and allows change. It is the essence of a Jewish approach to recovery. On that ground, the disciplines of Jewish life \u2013 community, service, study, prayer \u2013 can do their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discomfort with the spirituality of AA is far from the only obstacle Jews struggling with addiction face. Steinberg said there is tremendous stigma around addiction in the Jewish community, especially around drugs and alcohol. As Rabbi Abraham Twerski discusses in the foreword to Steinberg\u2019s book, AA groups were refused the use of synagogues for many years, reinforcing their habit of locating in church basements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old saying was a shikker is a goy (a drunkard is a gentile),\u201d said Steinberg. \u201cJews are not supposed to be alcoholics. The reality is that there are many Jews struggling with substance abuse, even very outwardly successful Jews. There are doctors, lawyers, businessmen and even rabbis. I was outwardly a success, but I was living a divided life. My life had to completely fall apart before I would deal with my alcoholism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many struggling Jews do not know where to turn when they suffer from addiction. \u201cIt is amazing how few Jews will turn to their rabbi or their community for help,\u201d said Steinberg. \u201cThe synagogue is all too often not seen as a place where you can air your dirty laundry, where you can be vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The desire to provide Jews with a place to find healing from addiction as Jews is what drove the creation of JACS Vancouver. \u201cIt is imperative to provide a safe place for Jews to get help, and to provide them with the Jewish tools they need for that healing to be successful,\u201d said Denham.<\/p>\n

\u201cAddiction is an epidemic in North America,\u201d said Steinberg. \u201cIt\u2019s not just alcohol and street drugs; it\u2019s also gambling, sex addiction, workaholism, pornography, opiate addiction. We need to face the brokenness in ourselves and our community without stigmatizing it, so that the healing can begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

To RSVP for the Sept. 8 event, email info@jacsvancouver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew Gindin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer and journalist. He blogs on spirituality and social justice at <\/em>seeking her voice (hashkata.com<\/a>) and has been published in the <\/em>Forward, <\/em>Tikkun, <\/em>Elephant Journal and elsewhere.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Paul Steinberg first read The Big Book, the \u201cbible\u201d of Alcoholics Anonymous, written by founder Bill Wilson, he scribbled disagreements in the margins. His sponsor later saw them and took him to task. \u201cDo you really think you know more than Bill Wilson, who wrote a book that has saved the lives of millions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6202,2551,6203,2864,4435],"class_list":["post-20381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","tag-12-steps","tag-addiction","tag-beit-tshuvah","tag-health","tag-jacs"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}