Confronting Jewish addiction

BASYA LAYE

Addiction is a “spiritual malady.” This is the message that Rabbi Shais Taub has been sharing, first in the Jewish community and, more recently, with the non-Jewish world. The author of G-d of Our Understanding: Jewish Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction (Ktav Publishing House, 2010), a scholar of Jewish mysticism and an internationally recognized expert in Jewish addiction and recovery, Taub will be in Vancouver later this month to give an afternoon workshop for mental health professionals and community leaders, Who’s Your Higher Power, and an evening public lecture on Emotional Sobriety.

Taub has been exploring the spiritual nature of the problem of addiction and its treatment for the last several years but, with recent attention from the New York Times and National Public Radio and an increasing general interest in mental health and spirituality, he is now an in-demand speaker across North America. That might surprise some people in the Jewish community. Even after being presented with evidence to the contrary, the prevailing view on Jews and substance abuse is that it just doesn’t happen and, if it does, certainly not to “good” families.

In a lecture entitled Hitting Bottom, Finding G-d: A Jewish Perspective on Addiction and Recovery, Taub confronts head on the disbelief that prevails around Jews and substance abuse.

“Putting aside all the stereotypes, that ‘a shiker iz a goy,’ you know, ‘a drunk is a non-Jew,’ that old pejorative saying from the shtetl, and, by implication, that Jews don’t have these issues,” he says in a video of the talk available online, “let’s talk about Judaism as a spiritual tradition: what does Judaism have to say about the problem of addiction?”

Just how big is the problem? “It is estimated that one in 10 people are addicts,” Taub told the Jewish Independent. “The Jewish community is no exception. If you calculate that for each addict there are at least another four or five people who are directly affected by the addict’s problem, then you have half the community being touched by addiction. People don’t talk about it because of the shame they feel, but you should not be surprised to know that half the people you know are either addicts or are closely affected by an addict in their life.

“The Jewish myth that there are no addicts among us is obviously a problem,” he continued. “One, it helps keep people in denial. Two, even when people can admit the truth, the stigma causes people to be afraid to seek help. The solution, though, is to do what we are going to be doing in Vancouver, and that is to talk about it and help people understand what it really is all about.”

Taub grew up in Chicago, and began his work with addictions in Milwaukee, Wis., before relocating to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he lives with his wife and children. It was in Milwaukee that Taub first ran a group for Jews in recovery. Since then, he has worked with a broad range of people in recovery and their families, and the demand on his time is steadily increasing.

“Since my book came out, and especially since the NY Times coverage, there has been a lot of demand on my time from people all over the world,” he said. “I live in Pittsburgh, and I have a group that meets there. I also go monthly to speak at Gateway Rehabilitation Centre, which was founded by Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski. But I also travel all over the world and speak to communities, Jewish and non-Jewish. I am in contact with hospitals and rehabs all over the world. I get a lot of calls from individuals. I probably counsel a thousand people a year.”

While some might be surprised that a rabbi would devote him- or herself to these efforts, Taub sees his work with addicts and their families as a natural outgrowth of his commitment to Jewish spirituality and to the central tenets of the Chabad movement. He has also become a proponent of the 12-Step Program, the central treatment tenets first proposed by Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939.

“I do not have clinical training in the field of addiction treatment, just thousands of hours of in-the-field experience,” Taub said of his qualifications.

The reasons that someone with addictions might see a rabbi instead of a psychologist or other mental health professional are varied, he added. “The mental health profession is great; so is medicine,” he explained. “But you can ask professionals from those fields if they like dealing with addicts. Most of them will tell you that it is very much hit or miss dealing with addiction. That’s because addiction is not purely a mental health or physical issue. I deal with this at length in my book, and I intend to speak about it at my workshop for the professionals. The best way to understand addiction is as a spiritual malady – this idea was championed by Dr. Carl Jung, among others. The 12-Step programs are great because they get right to the spiritual root of the problem and help addicts get in touch with a ‘higher power.’ As a rabbi, I can be quite helpful to people who are on a spiritual journey.”

Some might associate the 12-Step approach with secularism or even with Christianity (AA groups often meet in church basements, making it a less desirable option for observant Jews), but Taub believes that this model is Jewishly relevant.

“I am a very strong proponent of the 12 steps,” he said. “A great deal of my book is a protracted argument against the popular misconception that the steps are implicitly Christian. It would be very difficult to sum up my argument in a nutshell.”

The need for a Jewish-specific recovery is at the heart of Taub’s central message to addicts and their families. “All human beings have a need for a conscious relationship with G-d. Most people have the dubious luxury of ignoring that need and getting away with it. Addicts are just people who can’t get away with it,” he clarified. “In a way, that is a blessing. Recovered addicts are some of the most beautiful people you could ever want to meet. I only wish that ‘normal’ people could have the kind of spiritual awakening and personal transformation that addicts are forced to have.”

Taub is unambiguous that his approach is firmly rooted in Chabad and the chassidut, or Chassidic philosophy, that informs the movement.

“I am first and foremost a rabbi and, specifically, a Chassidic rabbi. Chassidism, especially the Chabad school of Chassidism, is about connecting consciously with G-d, being aware of Him at all times and finding divine purpose in every aspect of life. That happens to be the same thing that addicts need in order to recover. Because of my training in mysticism, I have been given a language for describing spiritual phenomena. This language comes in handy in trying to communicate that which usually defies description.

“People of all religions and backgrounds tell me how much they are amazed at my ability to describe spiritual ideas in ways that they had always felt were true but couldn’t find the right words for,” he added. “I let them know that none of this is my original thought. I haven’t invented anything. Kabbalah and chassidut provide a rich lexicon for talking about the esoteric and bringing heavenly concepts down to earth. I just use this language and it resonates with people.”

It is the relationship between addiction and what Taub refers to as the “absence of G-d” that he addresses in his lectures, including the ones he’s planning for Vancouver on Oct. 30, an absence that can lead to addiction. The connection is as simple as the recovery is difficult. “Addiction is when I rely on something in this world to do for me what really only G-d can do for me,” he explained.

According to Taub, more important, perhaps, than pouring our resources into addiction treatment and recovery would be to devote more resources to education, inculcating Jewish spiritual values and wisdom, and reaching young people before addictions and addictive tendencies take hold.

“We should be educating our youth how to have a vibrant and effective spiritual life,” Taub suggested. “It should be done at home, in school, in synagogue, everywhere. Parents, do your children know how to meditate? You spend money that they should be able to read Hebrew and know the history of our people. After you spend that money, do your children know how to talk to G-d? Do they know how to take their problems and worries to G-d? Is faith a practical tool in their tool kit for life?

“People love to talk about drug education and prevention,” he continued. “I grew up in the Nancy Reagen era of ‘just say no’ in the U.S. We’ve spent billions on drug education and prevention, and I honestly don’t think that it has stopped one addict from becoming an addict. Chemical and addictive behaviors are just symptoms. The underlying cause is the inability to feel OK with life. We don’t need to be better informed, we need to be trained how to be spiritual fit. If you were 20 IQ points smarter, would you be any happier? Ask someone who is 20 IQ points smarter than you and you’ll get your answer. We are such smart people but we lack spiritual intelligence. We should be educating our children not just in math and science but in spirituality.”

“Emotional sobriety” forms the basis for spiritual and mental health, as well as the foundation for healthy relationships, said Taub. Therefore, he offers a Jewish approach to evaluating one’s own emotional intelligence and tools for building emotional capacity.

One might ask why Jews should pay such close attention to emotions when behavior is where it’s “Jewishly” at.

“That’s a great question. You are right that Judaism emphasizes behavior, but behavior is the outgrowth of intellect and emotion. You can certainly force yourself to do something that you don’t understand or feel strongly for. That is a commendable form of hypocrisy. But we should also pursue integrity, which means to be fully integrated people with congruent ideas, feelings and behaviors. If your thinking and feeling are healthy, your behaviors will automatically be healthy.”

Invited and hosted by Chabad of Downtown, Taub’s visit is co-sponsored by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, Jewish Family Service Agency and Congregation Schara Tzedeck.

Rabbi Binyomin Bitton, spiritual head of Chabad of Downtown and dean of its Jewish Academy, sees Taub’s upcoming Vancouver visit as timely. “As a spiritual leader and community leader, I realized the need for community leaders to help those in this particular situation,” he told the Independent. “More importantly, to realize how special those people are and how crucial we can be in helping them on the path to recovery, should that be even for one person in our community/neighborhood/organization/group/shul. As the Talmud says, ‘And whoever saves a life, it is as if he had saved the whole world.’ I feel that Rabbi Taub carries a unique approach in dealing with people facing addiction recovery. I feel that this subject needs to be discussed properly within our community leadership and that additional tools and insights are necessary for community leaders and professionals.”

The cost for the workshop, which will be held Oct. 30, 2:30-4:30 p.m., at the JCCGV, is $30, and the public lecture, which will take place later that day at 7:30 p.m. in the Columbia Ballroom at the Holiday Inn, 1110 Howe St., is $10, $12 at the door or free for Jewish Academy premium members. To register, call 778-688-1273 or visit jewishacademy.ca/shaistaub.

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