Held on April 15, the Third Seder: Understanding Addiction and the Path to Freedom focused on the slavery of addiction. (photo from JFS Vancouver)
There was matzah, grape juice, charoset and horseradish on the table. Guests read from the Haggadah and enjoyed a meal of matzah ball soup, brisket and roasted vegetables. At first glance, you might think this was just another seder – but it truly was different from all other seder nights.
The Third Seder: Understanding Addiction and the Path to Freedom was held April 15, with Rabbi Joshua Corber, director of Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) Vancouver, at the helm. All the guests had something in common: they were people with or recovering from addiction, or family members of loved ones who have experienced or are still struggling with addiction.
“No situation is more similar to slavery than one’s addiction. Someone who has experienced addiction truly understands what it means to be a slave,” said Corber as he introduced guests to From Bondage to Freedom: A Haggadah with a Commentary Illuminating the Liberation of the Spirit, written by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski (1930-2021).
“Rabbi Twerski, z”l, is an absolute giant,” Corber explained. “Steeped in Torah learning and Chassidus, he was a psychiatrist who specialized in addiction and, with this background, his ability to leverage Torah as a recovery tool is unparalleled. This is reflected in his Haggadah, but he also led the way for other Torah scholars.”
At all other seders, guests drink wine or grape juice, but at the Third Seder, only grape juice was on the table. Guests recited sections from the Haggadah that wrestled with concepts like liberation from addiction, and how family members could deliver “tough love” by setting boundaries. They expressed their pain and shared their stories with candour.
“Slaves to addiction tend to think recovery isn’t possible,” said one guest, who introduced himself as a recovered alcoholic.
Corber agreed. “I thought addiction was my life, and that I needed to tolerate it,” he confessed. “I was held down by inertia because addiction was the only life I could imagine. In some ways, it was like I was already dead.”
The guests at the seder, which was held at Reuben’s Deli by Omnitsky, ranged in age from 22 to 80. Some were still wrestling with active addiction, while others had been in recovery for lengthy periods. Together, they formed a community of support that was inclusive and devoid of judgment.
“Addiction is a family disease and having a community for recovery is amazing,” one guest declared.
Corber echoed those sentiments. “A goal of JACS is to get the whole community behind the cause of supporting Jews entering recovery or coming out of addiction and, so far, that’s been missing,” he said.
There remains a stigma surrounding addiction, particularly in the Jewish community, Corber said. “There seems to be a reluctance to discuss the matter openly in the community and we have to break this stigma. Addiction is not a choice, it’s a disease. And, while most of us acknowledge this, it has not fundamentally changed our attitudes. Jews who are struggling need to feel supported and accepted by their Jewish community.”
Corber said the Third Seder will become an annual event, and more programming is being planned for Shavuot and other Jewish holidays. For more information, visit jacsvancouver.com.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.
In February, Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) appointed Rabbi Joshua Corber as its new director. The Vancouver-born Conservative rabbi spent the last 10 years as a congregational rabbi in Calgary, Vaughan, Ont., and Louisville, Ky., before returning home in July 2023.
“Practically the entire time I was serving congregations, I was in recovery,” Corber said. “Prior to that, I was in active addiction. I’m in a unique position to serve the Jewish community in this way because I have the personal experience of having suffered from addiction, but I also have experience from my congregational service with pastoral counseling and, in particular, people going through severe life trauma. That will be of immense value to me in serving this community.”
Rabbi Joshua Corber is the director of Jewish Addiction Community Services Vancouver. (photo from JACS)
Corber noted that the Jewish community faces an acute risk when it comes to substance abuse. One reason is the misconception that Jews are immune to addiction, but another is the prevalence of alcohol in traditional religious observance. “There’s no religion other than Judaism in which alcohol is so present in almost all aspects of religious life,” he said.
“Alcohol is prescribed, sanctioned and encouraged in Judaism, and not just on Purim,” he continued. “There’s always a Jewish excuse for a l’chaim. For me, as a rabbi, that posed a unique danger because I could always justify it. Though halachic authorities strongly discourage drunkenness, that message won’t be absorbed by the addict, who will make a beeline for the l’chaim table – every single time.”
Corber’s polysubstance addiction, including alcohol, became acute during the pandemic. He said the most concerning addictions, that pose the most immediate threat to life, are opioids and fentanyl.
But, just as Judaism presents a risk in terms of addiction, it also has resources for recovery, the rabbi noted.
“Most of the recovery world, such as 12-step programs and AA, consider an addiction to be a spiritual problem, and spiritual problemsrequire spiritual solutions. I have a deep knowledge of the ways in which Jewish tradition and Jewish wisdom teachings can be leveraged as a critical aid in recovery.”
Corber’s first community event will be held on April 15. The Third Seder: Understanding Addiction and the Path to Freedom is a communal, seder-like meal where the rabbi will discuss the connection between addiction, recovery and spiritual freedom.“We’ll leverage and focus the Haggadah around addiction and recovery,” Corber said, adding that “everyone should come.”
“This is not just for people who are in recovery or struggling with addiction,” he said. “It’s really important that the whole community be involved in the conversation around addiction. It can’t be that shivas are the only place that we’re talking about addiction.”
When Jewish Addiction Community Service was established in 2016, its role was to help members of the community suffering from addiction. Eight years after its inception, in 2024, the organization came under the umbrella of Jewish Family Services, meaning that, operationally, it will be under the auspices of JFS.
“We needed infrastructure and clinical support, so this is a big operational shift that integrates addiction-related services with other services that JFS provides,” said Tanja Demajo, chief executive officer at JFS. “When a client comes to JFS or JACS for support, we examine their needs holistically and connect them with different resources based on their needs. Going forward, it means people can get the support they need in one place instead of going to two.”
Demajo and her team hope the new development will remove barriers to service access and eliminate the shame and discomfort associated with requests for support, because the need is certainly there, she said.
“The percentage of people impacted by addiction in the Jewish community is very similar to the wider community: we know that every third community member is impacted by someone affected by addiction. But there’s a lot of stigma and judgment, so it’s not easy to ask for help,” Demajo told the Independent. “Education and awareness are things JACS and JFS really need to work on, to normalize the need to ask for help. The more conversations we have, the more it normalizes the need for help.”
JACS has hired Corber as a full-time director, and is relying on eight therapists contracted through JFS. Demajo said, as community needs shift and change, the organization will examine taking on additional therapists if needed. “We’re at the early stage of building a full program and bringing new energy to it,” she explained.
Demajo added that she’s deeply grateful to Howard Harowitz, the founder and chair of JACS, who advocated for addiction services in the Jewish community for years.
JACS’s mission is to increase education and awareness, provide community direct service, and offer guidance and referrals. For more information, visit jacsvancouver.com.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad believes “we need to have a heavy focus on getting our economy back up and running in this province.” (photo from conservativebc.ca)
John Rustad’s party has been on a bit of a losing streak. It’s been 96 years since the BC Conservatives last won a provincial election. But Rustad – and plenty of keen political observers – see a once-in-a-century opportunity when voters choose a new government Oct. 19.
Opinion polls show Rustad’s Conservatives, who took less than 2% of the vote in the last provincial election, close to, tied with, or in some cases surpassing the incumbent New Democrats.
In a dramatic deal to unite right-of-centre forces and forestall a reelected NDP government, the BC United party folded its tent last month. Kevin Falcon, who rebranded the official opposition BC Liberals to the BC United party last year, made a deal with Rustad to end the United campaign and endorse the Conservatives. Falcon’s party had plummeted so far in the polls that complete obliteration seemed likely. The move blindsided members of Falcon’s caucus, some of whom are now running as independents, a few of whom are running as Conservatives and several more of whom have retired from politics.
Speaking to the Jewish Independent, Rustad said Jewish British Columbians should see him as a friend.
“The community will find an ally in me,” said Rustad, citing rising antisemitism as unacceptable.
“What’s happening within communities and people not feeling safe, and what’s happening in our universities and in our school system and, quite frankly, in government – that is something that I will work very hard to bring to an end,” he said.
Rustad supports the current government’s commitment to mandatory Holocaust education.
“That was actually something I [said] we would be implementing before even the government talked about doing it,” said Rustad, who reflected on the impact a visit to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre had on him during a tour of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. “There are too many people in British Columbia that don’t understand our full history and need to understand it – not just British Columbia’s or Canada’s history, but world history.”
Rustad was moved by the words of a Jewish woman in her 60s who recently told the Conservative leader she is considering leaving the province because of the antisemitism here. Her parents were Holocaust survivors, Rustad recalled the woman saying, and the climate in BC right now feels “a lot like 1932 from what her parents had described,” he said.
“I was shocked at that, to think that that’s how people could feel about what’s going on here in British Columbia,” he said. “So, to me, that really hit home in terms of changes that we need to be able to do in British Columbia.”
Standing against antisemitism and against hate in any form, said Rustad, is core to who he is.
“People should be able to be safe, people who come here, they should be able to raise their children and not feel as though they’re being persecuted or not feel that sort of fear,” he said.
Issues Rustad is hearing from voters include employment and affordability, which he said are leading too many people to consider abandoning the province.
“With one in three people in BC thinking about leaving this province, and particularly one in two youth thinking about leaving this province, having them being able to build a future in BC is critical and that means we have to be able to address affordability, which includes housing,” he said. “You can address those things but if people don’t have a job, they’re not going to stay. So, we need to have a heavy focus on getting our economy back up and running in this province, and start to address this massive deficit that we have.”
Keeping people in the province also requires that people feel safe,he added.
“It means we have to address addictions and crime, to make people feel safe in British Columbia – and that crime is not just physical crime but also hate crimes,” Rustad said.
Appropriate access to health care is another topic Rustad will raise throughout the campaign.
The folding of the BC United party and the agreement to incorporate some United MLAs and candidates into the Conservative slate has been a sometimes-public struggle. The Conservatives had already identified candidates in the vast majority of the province’s 93 ridings. BC United also had most of their candidates in place. The Falcon-Rustad deal meant many candidates, mostly BC United, had to bow out.
“It’s been interesting, obviously, having options,” Rustad said of his party’s juggling act with a surplus of nominees. “But, at the same time, I believe strongly in loyalty to my candidates, to people who have worked hard to help us build this party and so I’ve tried my best to honour that as part of this process, but also to make sure that we honoured the discussion that we had between the United party and the Conservative party.”
He estimated that somewhat fewer than a dozen BC United candidates have now been nominated by the Conservatives and said his party is still in talks with United officials about other issues. BC United still exists as a party, even though it has stopped campaigning. It could be revived in future and must run at least two candidates in the election after this one to maintain its registration.
The BC Conservatives have not elected a member to the BC Legislature since a 1978 by-election.
Rustad and the seven other members of his caucus were all elected as BC Liberals. Rustad was fired from the Liberal caucus two years ago by Falcon and became Conservative leader last year. He represents the sprawling central BC riding of Nechako Lakes and was first elected in 2005. He served as minister of aboriginal relations and reconciliation and as minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations under former premier Christy Clark.
At the Sept. 26 event Bridging Hope, which takes place at King David High School, Noah Bogdonov, left, and his parents, David Bogdonov and Elana Epstein, will speak about their family’s experience with addiction. (photo from Bogdonov-Epsteins)
“We want to share our experience, strength and hope with addiction,” said David Bogdonov about what he and his wife, Elana Epstein, and their son, Noah Bogdonov, will talk about on Sept. 26 at Bridging Hope: Science and Testimonial in the Fight Against Addiction.
The Independent spoke with the Bogdonov-Epsteins recently, to get to know them a bit before the event, which is being presented by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, King David High School and Vancouver Talmud Torah.
David is an engineer and works for a company that builds waterparks, while Elana, who has a social work background, has been a yoga teacher for about 20 years and a wellness/spiritual coach for about 15 years. “Currently, I am supporting a ton of moms in the addiction community,” she said.
The couple has three sons. “Boys R Us” quipped David. “Noah is the firstborn, at 28 years old; Tal is our second, at 24; and Benjamin is our youngest, at 22.”
It was in October 2022 that they became sure that Noah was struggling with addiction. “Before that,” said Elana, “about three or four months before the ‘awakened moment,’ we knew that he had been struggling but he was telling us he had gotten it under control, not to worry, then it went downhill, crashing very fast.
“He started in high school – not unlike the vast majority of kids in high school – using weed and alcohol,” she said. “We didn’t like it, but we assumed it was part of his teenage years and that he would grow out of it and come to his own realization of how to find balance in life and, sadly, that never happened.”
Initially, it was Noah’s friends who tried to help.
“They held an informal intervention and asked him to get it under control,” said David. “That was in May of ’22, and that’s when we became aware of it, but he pulled the wool over our eyes and convinced us that he had it all under control. That’s when we started to make sense of all the red flags we had seen for a long time.”
Months later, when David and Elana were in Whistler, Noah was slower than usual to respond to a text message. “I woke up one morning and said that we need to go home, something is not right. He was staying at my brother’s apartment, who was away, and we knew. I said, we need to go, and we went, and we found him, and he was in dire straits,” said Elana. “But, he said, ‘I don’t want to live like this anymore.’ We asked, ‘Does that mean treatment?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ We got the ball rolling, and he went right in, no hesitation, no more denial. He was ready, we were ready, and that was the beginning of the rest of his life.”
It’s been almost two years since Noah has been in treatment. He spent about 100 days at the Last Door Addiction Recovery Treatment Centre, in New Westminster, then was in transition housing, where he had a relapse that lasted two months, said David. It’s been 16 months since Noah’s relapse.
“David and I never stopped going to the weekly meetings, doing our own work,” said Elana, even while Noah was relapsing. The Last Door has family group meetings, which they’ve been attending regularly since Noah was two weeks into treatment, said David, calling their participation in the group a “very key element” of their own recovery.
Noah is working at Maintain Recovery, a sober living house, which he manages. “It’s a common story for many recovering addicts to get immersed in the life of recovery,” said David. “They often start to work in the organizations and so on. It’s part of what keeps them clean and keeps them on the path, which is really wonderful to watch.”
David and Elana are being so open about their family’s experiences because, said David, “We take quite seriously that part of the overdose crisis is caused by the stigma surrounding drug addition and we subscribe to the notion that addiction is a disease and should be treated like any other disease. You don’t shame someone for having cancer, you shouldn’t shame someone for having the disease of addiction. So, we are both passionate about that.”
“For me,” added Elana, “it goes beyond the stigma…. I really feel like if there were more language, more community, more education, more connection around this, you know, if I had had someone … approach me and say, listen, this is what addiction looks like, your son seems to be starting down a path that gets worse before it gets better…. In Noah’s life, we had no knowledge of addiction, we did not know what it looked like, we were totally blindsided,” she said.
“We don’t have trauma, there was no story he was hiding and trying to make peace with,” added Elana. “He was a boy who got caught up in using recreational drugs, like everyone else, [but] he was the one who was the addict who couldn’t stop. The moment when, with Noah’s permission, it became clear that we had a role to play in our community, where there’s a lot of shame and we don’t talk about it, so the kid dies. That’s not, on my watch, ever going to happen. If I can touch one family’s life because of our story, I will continue to do this till the day I die.”
Bridging Hope takes place at King David High School. Discussing the science of addiction will be Dr. Yaron Finkelstein, a professor of pediatrics, pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto and a staff physician at the Hospital for Sick Children (known as SickKids); Dr. Yonatan Kupchik, senior lecturer and director, department of medical neurobiology, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC), Centre for Addiction Research (ICARe), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Dr. Rami Yaka, head of HU’s School of Pharmacy. For tickets to the event ($18), visit register.cfhu.org/bridginghope.
Every year, more Canadian teenagers die by suicide than by all medical diseases combined, including cancer, diabetes, asthma and infections.
Dr. Yaron Finkelstein, a professor of pediatrics, pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto and a staff physician at the Hospital for Sick Children (known as SickKids), shared this fact with the Jewish Independent in advance of Bridging Hope: Science and Testimonial in the Fight Against Addiction. Presented by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, King David High School (KDHS) and Vancouver Talmud Torah (VTT), the Sept. 26 event at KDHS will also feature Dr. Yonatan Kupchik, senior lecturer, department of medical neurobiology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), and Dr. Rami Yaka, head of the School of Pharmacy at HU, discussing the science of addiction. The testimonial part of the gathering will be shared by members of the Epstein-Bogdonov family. In this issue of the Independent, we talk to the doctors. Next issue, we will meet Elana Epstein and David Bogdonov, who, with their son, Noah Bogdonov, will speak in September about their family’s experience with addiction.
“Drug overdose, led by the opioids crisis, is an immense public health problem in BC, Canada and globally,” Finkelstein said. “Effectively addressing the loss of so many people for overdose daily, a largely preventable condition, must be a national priority. Indeed, youths are also highly affected, and we see them in the emergency departments, in clinics and, sadly, on the streets. Further, some youths use overdose as a common means of self-harm and suicide attempt.”
Finkelstein added that “most medications administered to children, particularly in hospitals (up to 85% in some acute care settings) have not been properly studied and approved in this population. Rather, we ‘borrow’ them from our experience in adults, scale the dose down to the child’s weight and hope to achieve the same effects and outcomes. However, we know this is not always the case, sometimes the outcomes are unwarranted, and I have personally noticed that repeatedly over the years. The goal of my research program is to work hard and close this knowledge gap – find the safest and most effective medications for children, and tailor their dosing regimens to the pediatric needs.”
Dr. Yaron Finkelstein (photo from Sickkids website)
At Bridging Hope, Finkelstein will discuss “the impacts of cannabis legalization on pediatric poisonings – trends and severity (for example, many do not appreciate that edible cannabis products can kill a child) – and on mental health, including addiction and the risk of developing schizophrenia in youths and adults.”
Canada became the second country to legalize cannabis for recreational use in 2018, he said. “This ‘natural experiment’ has led to numerous unanticipated outcomes, many have negative impacts on public health, and particularly on children.”
Finkelstein’s main research is centred on pediatric therapeutics in acute-care settings, with the long-term goal of optimizing drug safety.
“During my clinical clerkship in medical school, my passion to help children grew tremendously, and I was inspired by my mentors,” he shared. “Children have immense resilience, and their recovery is often fast and remarkable, and provides hope. I was always fascinated by the mechanistic actions of drugs on the human body, and combining those passions felt natural.”
“From the early beginning of my studies, I was thrilled to understand how the brain functions,” said Yaka, who not just heads HU’s School of Pharmacy but conducts research as well. “The brain reward circuitry is the most important system in any living creature, since it is responsible for our survival and reproduction, therefore, our existence. My main research is focused on synaptic function in health and disease.”
Dr. Rami Yaka (photo from HU website)
Yaka joined the School of Pharmacy in 2003 and has served in many capacities. “Since I feel that the School of Pharmacy is like my second home and I really care about its future, and since I have all the necessary experience to take this mission, I volunteered to head the school,” he said. “Maintaining the right balance between the administrative duties and the research (my main cause of being here) is challenging. I work harder and try to pay the same attention to both tasks without reducing any effort for either.”
On Sept. 26, Yaka will talk about “‘out of the box’ research to battle drug addiction.”
“Since addiction to drugs, screens, food, etc., is very common and spreads all over the world very easily, this subject is very popular among laypeople,” he said. “Therefore, for me, it’s easy to adopt lay language to explain in simple words what the problem is and what we can do to avoid having it. I think that a huge part of the problem is the lack of knowledge among users (mainly young) about the adverse effects and negative impact that drugs have on the brain.”
With respect to educating youth and engaging them more broadly in science, Kupchik sees his role as a principal investigator at a leading university as “not only to generate new knowledge that may lead the world forward but also to plant the seeds for the next generation of principal investigators.”
“In Israel,” said Kupchik, “there are several programs that select the top high school students in the country and expose them to academia at their early age. This is excellent, but … there are many excellent students that we may be missing as a society just because they live in underprivileged places. Therefore, we try in the lab to specifically target those populations of students, and we do it in various ways. For example … [we] started an initiative that invites local high school students to scientific conferences taking place in their vicinity. For many students, this is the first interaction with science and many of them reported later that it induced interest in the scientific world. We also invite high school students to our laboratory and provide an interactive experience in which they learn about the brain and how scientific research is performed.”
Dr. Yonatan Kupchik (photo from HU website)
What most intrigues Kupchik about neurobiology “is how a biological organ, composed of billions of neurons that communicate with each other, generates such complex phenomena as behaviour, emotion, thoughts, etc.” His lab at HU researches the changes occurring in single neurons or in brain circuits in drug addiction or obesity. Among other things, they are currently collaborating with two neighbouring labs.
“One is with the laboratory of Dr. Shai Sabbah, an expert in the neurobiology of light processing in the eye. It is known that exposure to light can affect mood and the neural activity in brain areas related to emotions. We are investigating in this collaboration whether light exposure could also affect drug-seeking behaviour.
“Another collaboration is with the laboratory of Dr. Danny Ben-Zvi, an endocrinologist and expert of the bariatric surgery. As bariatric surgery decreases the craving for rewarding foods, we are now investigating together whether the bariatric surgery drives permanent changes in the reward system of the brain and whether it could affect the craving for other, non-food, rewards.”
Kupchik said, “We believe that there are many similarities between behaviours that may reflect addiction, such as drug dependence, overeating, gambling, hoarding, computer gaming, social media use and so on, and hope that understanding the neurobiological mechanisms in one kind of addiction could hint about the mechanisms of other addictions. We chose to focus on drug addiction and on obesity both because these are two main global health challenges that remain unsolved and because these are conditions that can be modeled in laboratory animals.”
At King David High School, Kupchik “will try to show some of the permanent changes we found that occur in the reward system after using cocaine, and after withdrawal.”
Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) and Jewish Family Services (JFS) have accepted bylaw changes allowing for service integration, in order to expand addiction support and services within theJewish community.
“JACS and JFS have a long history of collaboration in serving our community, and it just made good sense to form an even tighter relationship that leverages the relative strengths of each organization,” said Howard Harowitz, JACS board chair. “This move is driven by a shared commitment to improving service delivery, integrating substance use services with other supports, and utilizing the established expertise of both agencies.”
The strategic rationale behind this integration is clear: combining resources will enhance service effectiveness and accessibility, ultimately creating a more significant impact. This aligns with JFS’s long-term vision of becoming a leader in social services.
“This integration aligns with our strategic vision to enhance our service portfolio and provide more holistic support that meets the needs of our clients,” said Tanja Demajo, JFS chief executive officer. “We are excited to embark on this new chapter of community service together!”
This integration will provide the community:
• Increased accessibility to addiction services for clients and their families.
• Enhanced capacity to serve a greater number of individuals in need.
• A holistic approach to addressing clients’ diverse needs.
• Greater community awareness of where and how to access addiction services.
For more on the resources and services JFS provides, visit jfsvancouver.ca.
When we hear about addiction and recovery, most of us might think of the incredibly difficult journey to achieve and then sustain sobriety. For certain, this is one reality.
That said, it’s one thing to refrain from using, and quite another to rebuild one’s life. One of Jewish Addiction Community Services’ clients told us that, although they have been in recovery for three years, they felt that their life had little meaning. Working together, we uncovered the “missing link”: their prior lifestyle had damaged, and in some cases severed, many of their connections to family and community. More importantly, that insight led to building some practical plans for reconnecting. They now report that they feel like they have turned the corner – rediscovering motivation for work, life, and being an active member of our community.
Another client, who had been using drugs for over 25 years, is now seven months sober. They recognize that Judaism’s role in their early life was important, and reconnecting to some aspect of that former life is comforting and familiar. This client attended a seder for the first time in many years and looks forward to the High Holidays.
It is no secret that community plays a crucial role in sustained recovery. The harder part is to operationalize the insight. Our role at JACS is to meet people where they are, help them find treatment, if needed, work with them to rebuild their lives, and be a link to the greater Jewish community. At the very practical level, we have helped clients connect with Tikva Housing, access the Jewish Food Bank and get financial help from Hebrew Free Loan Association. As well, working with rabbis and other agencies, we are helping individuals find ways to reconnect with a Jewish social network, support systems and the community at large.
JACS is proud that we are here to help our community. It is gratifying to know that, through education, counseling and connection, we are making a difference for those who need to know they have value and do indeed belong.
For more information about what we do, visit jacsvancouver.com.
Shelley Karrel is manager of counseling and community education at JACS Vancouver. She can be reached at [email protected].
Pesach is approaching, and the connection to addiction is obvious – we were slaves in Egypt, we are slaves to substances and behaviours to our detriment. Sadly, we hear daily about the perils of addiction – certainly the news of the toxic drug supply and deaths as a result are constant reminders of the struggle many face.
In the same way that Pesach teaches us that the possibility of redemption exists, that the oppressed can survive and ultimately triumph over their oppressors, so too can we remain hopeful that there is a pathway out of addiction. The struggle is hard, but with perseverance and critical support along the way, recovery is certainly achievable.
Our work at JACS is multi-faceted – we meet new people weekly who are looking for recovery support and those who are not sure yet they are ready to address the struggle. We meet people wherever they are.
While the challenge is real, we wanted to share what some of our clients have told us – the gifts of sobriety.
Life is simpler – I used to have to steal to feed my addiction. It took time and I would wake up wondering when and where I would find my next “fix.” Now I celebrate each day knowing I am free of that struggle.
I feel better about who I am – I no longer have secrets that I have to keep from those I love.
I am present to my feelings – I recognize the urge to use drugs as just that – an urge. I am able to reach out for help as I need it.
I feel physically better – I appreciate my physical, mental and emotional health. Yes, it has been work and I am worth it.
I am part of a healthier community – the people I used to connect with were struggling with addiction as well. Now I surround myself with people who want to be healthy, living lives filled with meaning.
I live with purpose – by helping others who may be struggling with this challenge, or just being present to whatever I am doing or whomever I am with.
I feel the freedom to have fun – I enjoy a walk in the rain or the sun, I know that my joy and happiness is up to me.
We continue to be inspired by the clients we have the privilege of working with and supporting on their journey. May their courage and strength serve as inspiration to us all.
In British Columbia last year, 2,272 people died from toxic drugs, according to information released last week. More than 11,000 people have died of drug toxicity in the province since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016.
While many people associate these tragic deaths with the troubles of the Downtown Eastside, the reality is that Vancouver Coastal Health – the region that includes that neighbourhood as well as much of Metro Vancouver – accounted for 14% of the drug-related deaths in the province last year. Rural communities are disproportionately affected. Most disproportionately affected of all are Indigenous communities. The First Nations Health Authority reports that, while making up 3.2% of the province’s population, First Nations people comprised 15% of all toxic drug deaths in 2021 and 2022.
It is worth remembering that, while people have died from toxic drugs on the streets, they also have died in the living rooms of our most exclusive neighbourhoods, and they have died everywhere in between.
The City of Vancouver just announced $2.8 million for the hiring of 58 mental health workers and expanded programs to address frontline issues and public safety responses, according to Mayor Ken Sim. Also, this week, a new policy went into effect in British Columbia, under which possession of some illegal drugs will not result in arrest or charges. This is an innovative effort to reconsider the problem as a health issue, not a legal one.
While there may be disagreements and concerns about the approach the city, the province and the federal government are taking on the problems that plague individuals and communities around mental health, addictions, crime and safety, there has also been a degree of unnecessary and unwelcome cynicism. Too many seem to view the problems – and the people they affect – as an inconvenience to be swept away rather than as complex social issues requiring comprehensive responses.
In the search for explanations and solutions, there has been too frequent a tendency to blame the victim, to drive through troubled neighbourhoods in our city and province and condemn not the problems, or the context of those problems, but the people they affect.
In many instances, people suffering represent the contemporary impacts of policies and practices past and present. Land acknowledgments and efforts at reconciliation mean little to nothing if they are not accompanied by truth and by compassion for the long-term effects of these wrongs. Coming to terms with the impact on Indigenous peoples of residential schools, intergenerational trauma and generalized discrimination and lack of opportunity has opened many eyes to how these historical and contemporary realities have affected communities. Perhaps we have not done as well in recognizing how these impacts manifest in individuals.
People experiencing the harms of the drug poisoning crisis, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, come from a place of struggle and suffering. Really, every person is impacted in some way by circumstances of their social context, as well as their experiences. Some of the problems we experience are a result of individual health or vulnerabilities and others of systemic discrimination or falling through cracks in the education system or social safety net. Whatever the causes, they each require us to come together to address them.
Of course, these issues are not at all limited to our city. Across North America and elsewhere, urban and rural communities are troubled by substance issues and other problems, including a lack of safe and affordable housing, which is foundational to individual and communal well-being. If anyone had simple answers, they would have been adopted and implemented by now. This is an enormous challenge we must attempt to address humanely, compassionately and effectively without victim-blaming.
Organizations and many individuals in the Jewish community have been committed to these issues for some time and those collective efforts reflect the core Jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world, but they also reflect hakaim takim imo, “you shall surely lift him [and her] up.”
The tragic statistics confirm what we already know. They are a reminder, though, that a great deal remains to be done to address the problems and to reduce the social causes of the crisis. Trying new approaches that focus on compassion and justice is a right course. They may not work. But the cost of not trying is far too high.
Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) estimates that one in six members of the Jewish community in Metro Vancouver – or more than 4,000 people – are in need of support for dealing with substance use disorder. And yet, it is a topic that many of us find hard to talk openly about.
“I grew up around alcoholism in the home. There was shame in the family that dad had a drinking problem, and it affected my childhood, there is no doubt,” said L, who had the courage to speak with the Independent about their experience with alcoholism. “My dad was an angry drunk and he’d be embarrassing in public. He didn’t show up for commitments and didn’t turn out to be a very good father. I got to the point where I didn’t count on him because I couldn’t, and I resolved that with myself at a young age.
“Yet, there was a part of his life that was enticing and rather exciting for me,” added L, now a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and a participant in JACS Vancouver. “When my father would pick me up on a Friday night, we would head to the bar. I thought it was something fun, better than my boring life at home.
“I would be excited to play the bar games and drink Shirley Temples, but I was way too young to be in that environment, way too young to have my views shaped by those experiences.”
Although these tavern trips took place when L was in junior high school, they considered it normal. “I didn’t realize there were no other kids in the bar. It seems weird to me now that no one objected,” L reflected.
L grew up in an environment where Judaism was not talked about much, either. “There was already a stigma within a stigma. There was a great shame about being Jewish. Being Jewish was rarely discussed, the same way Dad’s drinking was rarely discussed. Both topics became elephants in the room.
“I think what I draw from that experience is that I really believe the disease of alcoholism is genetic; it seems to run in families,” L said. “All I needed was that environment to stir up that excitement. My dad had a full wet bar at home, and I just loved it. I was drawn to it like a magnet because I associated it with fun Friday nights when Dad took us to the bar.”
L’s father’s drinking led to L’s mother divorcing him when L was 5. There remained trauma within the home – matters that were not openly discussed – and alcohol presented a means “to take the edge off.”
L established their own relationship with alcohol and began drinking and using drugs as much as possible.
“I was the perfect rebellious child,” L said. “I found ways to drink – whether stealing it from my parents’ liquor cabinet or sneaking out at night to hang out with older kids to drink. I used to hide it in my room. I kept a mason jar of whiskey in my closet.”
As L’s dependence increased so, too, did their obsession to drown out reality. “In high school, I would sneak out to drink and do drugs. I would put a trashcan beside my bed so I would have a place to throw up when returning home. This way, I wouldn’t risk waking my parents, because my bathroom was right next to their bedroom. I was pretty far gone by high school. The more I drank, the less I was interested in life around me. I dropped out of school and then left the house at 16.”
The reliance on alcohol remained for another 10 years. Family members disassociated themselves and L eventually sought help. By the time L “hit bottom,” a phrase used in AA to describe the lowest moment in an alcoholic’s drinking experience, they were “unemployed, suicidal and physically dependent on alcohol to function on a daily basis.”
“I didn’t fashion myself to be that bad, yet I didn’t have any friends left,” said L. “No social network, I was very isolated. I didn’t leave my house anymore. I didn’t check the mail. I couldn’t even go to the grocery store without being drunk or high. I ended up going to a counselor, who thought I should go to an AA meeting. I thought that sounded horrible; I was only 26. AA sounded like it was for a bunch of old men and winos who lived under a bridge. However, my counselor said, ‘It has to be better than the way you’re living now.’”
Though there were struggles initially in attending AA meetings, L picked up a desire chip (sobriety coin) in August 1997 and has not had a drink or drug since, recently celebrating 25 years of continuous sobriety. L remains active in AA, and sponsors others who are looking for relief from their alcoholism.
AA, though it often holds meetings in churches, is a non-denominational program. “I am very steeped in Alcoholics Anonymous and that’s my central connection with sobriety,” L said. “It wasn’t until a Jewish friend in AA told me about JACS that I was able to reconcile my long-standing concern with the Christian side of AA.”
After attending some JACS meetings, L felt relieved that they could talk openly about their Judaism, which had been a sticking point for L in AA. Through JACS, L was introduced to the book Twelve Jewish Steps to Recovery, by Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky and Dr. Stuart A. Copans.
“Just reading the foreword to that book helped me better understand that AA’s founder, Bill W., was only using the God of his understanding, which happened to be based in Christianity, to write the outline for sobriety in the AA literature.”
This realization was a profound moment for L, since they always “railed against [the Christian] part of the AA program,” saying “that never felt right.”
“All of a sudden,” L said, “I realized that AA wasn’t Christian at all, only Bill’s concept of his higher power was. AA allows me to choose the concept of my own higher power, which is based in Judaism.”
Becoming more involved with JACS has opened a whole new perspective for L, which was not found in AA meetings alone. “I couldn’t be more grateful for finding this missing piece of the puzzle at JACS and for the continued support of Shelley Karrel, who runs the Vancouver chapter,” said L, who attributes this shift to becoming more involved in the Jewish community and reconnecting with their lost Judaism.
“I would not have had this spiritual awakening without being more connected to my community and being introduced to JACS,” L said. “Being able to finally connect my sobriety with Judaism feels like coming home for me.
“When I think about my father’s demise – a sad and lonely alcoholic death – I know that could have been my fate as well. There isn’t a day that goes by without being reminded of where I came from and how grateful I am that I survived. I did not have to die by suicide, or alone with a bottle hidden away in my closet. I was given a new life. A sober life.
“Thinking about drinking is the furthest thing from my mind today,” said L. “It used to be the only thing I thought about 25 years ago. The obsession has been removed. I am completely safe and sound when it comes to alcohol now, as long as I stay active in AA and keep on the path of spiritual growth.”
For more information on available resources and support – within and beyond the Jewish community – visit jacsvancouver.com.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
