A similar class will be offered on Wednesday, December 10. Contact Laura Kramer if you would like more information about this class and future addiction recovery events.
I was so excited when educator Beth Huppin asked if I wanted to collaborate with her to offer classes exploring Jewish text through the lens of addiction and recovery. Beth told me that she has had many conversations with people in the Jewish community who were suffering through their own or a loved one’s addictions. Many of these folks felt so much shame about this that they were reticent to reach out to community members for fear of judgment and rejection. This inspired us to create a class that would speak directly to this issue.
Addiction? In our community?
A myth prevails that Jewish people are not impacted by drug and alcohol addiction. Not only is the idea untrue, it is harmful. Rabbi Stewart Vogel writes that many families choose to suffer in silence and secrecy in order to avoid the shame and humiliation of being seen as ‘abnormal’ or ‘imperfect.’ He calls on us to make changes in our beliefs so that those who are struggling feel they can turn to “a safe and caring community… a community in which the veneer of perfection is removed.” Our classes sought to do just that – to offer a safe and accepting place for those who have suffered to come together and find solace and inclusion in the Jewish texts.
Texts for today.
Beth teaches that the texts are deliberately written on many levels so that there is space for the reader to find meaning as it applies to his or her life today. She invited us to bring our whole selves – our struggles and experiences – to the passages we were studying.
The path to recovery from either one’s own addiction or from the pain of living through a loved one’s addiction is not a straight line, but a complex journey vacillating between feelings of doubt, triumph, fear and joy.
In class, we read Psalm 27. This passage can be interpreted as depicting the constantly changing orientation of the self toward G-d, faith, struggle and recovery. Sometimes we feel confident, sometimes afraid, sometimes beseeching and sometimes bereft. In any phase, we have the opportunity to “turn our face toward G-d,” either by turning to our faith or by asking for help from others. This is where the necessity of community becomes clear. When one of us is fearful, another is confident. When one is feeling joy, another is feeling pain. And the next day, perhaps our roles will switch. We lift each other up; we remind each other that all moments are singular, temporary, and that this too will pass. It is in these relationships that the journey to recovery is possible.
Poetry and perspective.
In my youth, when I was most exposed to Jewish text, I took it quite literally. In exploring and interpreting together as a group, I discovered a depth and complexity to the readings that was quite unexpected. By seeing the text as poetry, ideas about choice, free will, pain and suffering, responsibility and freedom came alive.
Coming out of the shadows.
Some of the most intense suffering in addiction is in the isolation, shame and secrecy of the sufferers and those who love them. The antidote to this suffering is honesty, community and acceptance. By coming together, we create a bridge between our personal stories and experiences and the stories and experiences of people in general. There is no one who lives a life free of uncertainty, fear and struggle; and, there is no one whose story is so terrible that they cannot be enriched by study and embraced by community. By using the very texts of the Torah to find ourselves and our stories, we identify a space where religion can support life as it happens and not as we think it should be.
By Laura Kramer
Laura Kramer is an Addiction and Mental Health Counselor at Jewish Family Service. She holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Antioch University in Seattle. Her specialties of study include trauma therapy and addiction counseling.
