blogs/rabbi-huberman

Noah, alcohol and addiction 

Addiction is a topic people seldom want to talk about.  In the Jewish world we often assume it's "someone else's problem."

Yet more and more, addiction is moving into the mainstream,  affecting Jewish families more often than we might think.

Opiate pain medications such as Vicodin or Percocet are commonly prescribed for legitimate reasons, but can lead to addiction. These pills can easily be purchased on the street, where addicts soon learn that heroin is cheaper and more readily available.

Heroin addiction is endemic all over the country, including Long Island. Whatever the reason people start taking the drugs, it is the addiction which takes over their lives, making it almost impossible to turn back.

In speaking with a number of funeral directors, it is too common for young people in their twenties and thirties to be laid to rest having succumbed to, in particular, heroin addiction. Many of these victims are Jewish.

Many other young people suffer with addictions to cocaine, alcohol or other "soul-numbing" agents. In many cases they are using more substances than one. They lose relationships, jobs, families -- and they often face legal problems.  

Parents of addicted sons and daughters struggle to find answers.   What action can we take? Why can't our son or daughter stop using? What is the right thing to do?

Jewish communities have often failed to fully recognize the epidemic proportion of this problem.

Each March, Patte and I travel to Florida to participate in a Jewish Recovery weekend, sponsored by Chabad. Patte works in psychiatry and addiction medicine, while I am frequently exposed to addiction issues in my role as rabbi.

There, at the Chabad "Shabbaton," we listen, learn and interact with those affected by drug, alcohol, gaming, and other addictions.

The experience is profoundly moving. I am inspired by stories of recovery, and the strengthening of the human soul. The weekend also deepens my resolve to raise this topic within the Jewish community and beyond.

Indeed, extensive rehabilitation programs exist in Los Angeles and the Boca Raton areas, but within the New York area, there is often a lack of coordination or a single point of entry for people in this kind of need.

This topic of substance abuse emerges in this week's Torah portion as we recount the famous story of Noah and the ark.

We know the primary narrative. God is angry at the world, and decides to flood humanity out of existence --- with the exception of Noah and members of his family.

There are many discussion topics which spring from this Torah portion. Why was Noah chosen? What are the Seven Commandments? What is the Biblical significance of the rainbow? Why are there so many different languages and cultures on earth?  

Yet perhaps the most obscure topic which surrounds this week's Torah portion is what Noah does after the ark lands on shore. The Torah tells us that Noah planted a vineyard, and then "he drank the wine and became drunk and he uncovered himself in his tent." (Genesis 9:21).

Noah passes out. The text then implies that his youngest son, Cham, seizes the moment and commits an indecency.

For obvious reasons, the incident of Noah, Cham, and alcohol does not command much attention within mainstream Torah study. There are so many nicer images to conjure up. We love the idea of animals "two by two" or the promise, confirmed by a rainbow, that God will never destroy again destroy the world.

But then there is the story of Noah and alcohol, and the lingering question: "Why did Noah go to that dark place?"

As Rabbi Shais Taub, a noted Jewish recovery lecturer, observes, "Noah was not out to have a good time; he was on a mission to blot out self-consciousness. And thus he drank until he fell asleep naked in his tent. He felt no shame; he felt nothing."

Think about the pressure and guilt Noah must have weathered before, during and after the flood.   He was one of a few survivors, of an event which claimed all of humanity.

So what did Noah do the moment that the world stabilized? In Rabbi Taub's words, Noah turned to "serious self-medication and became wasted, wrecked, trashed."

Noah is not alone among us. There is barely a family which has not been touched by this epidemic.

A few days before Rosh Hashanah, I presided at a funeral outside of the community, for a warm and cherished young man in his late twenties, who lost his struggle with heroin addiction.

His parents were loving and supportive. His friends were devoted and faithful. Yet, in the end, the disease of addiction claimed another victim.

There are many untold stories which continue to quietly unfold at shivas, in funeral homes, and within communities.

There are many agencies and rehabilitation centers which address this issue. They do their best with limited resources to assist. Yet, perhaps what is missing is a single point of entry for those seeking help, those in recovery, and those affected by addiction.

Organizations like Beit Yosef  hope to one day soon establish an extensive center within the New York area to provide counseling, support and spiritual guidance, but that day has not yet arrived.

For the past year, CTI has been working with families affected both within and beyond our own community, along with professionals within our congregation to develop a way for those in need to access help and support at the click of a mouse.

This effort, tentatively named the Northeast Recovery Alliance, will be launched later this year and will include links to resources for recovery and support throughout our region.

There will also be blogs and other writings from rabbis and clinicians attuned to this issue, along with opportunities for those affected to interact.

This will take the form of a separate website and Face Book page, hosted by CTI, involving a number of partner agencies and organizations.

Why CTI and why now? The answer perhaps lies in the Torah where we are commanded when we see someone"bleeding" in our midst to act rather than observe."

Indeed, this is a massive and complex issue. At CTI we will do our part, by hosting a site providing links to existing resources while facilitating opportunities to share Best Practices, and fellowship.

We remember Noah this week, and extend compassion towards the burden that he carried.  

We are also reminded that if Noah, who the Torah describes as "blameless and righteous" can succumb to substance abuse, the potential exists for many others to do the same.

For whether we want to admit it or not, addiction is a growing epidemic within our midst.

As we begin the twenty five hours of Shabbat, a period of reflection and spirituality, I will be thinking this week about not only Noah -- but also that warm, caring, handsome young man I watched parents lay to rest four weeks ago.

Indeed, our Torah encompasses all human experience -- even those situations we are inclined to turn away from.

The Mishnah, which eighteen hundred years ago recorded Judaism's oral tradition, quotes the ancient teacher Rabbi Tarfon, who reminds us, "It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it."

Indeed, we are losing too many young people to this deadly silent scourge. Therefore it is time we became upstanders rather than bystanders.

Let the story of Noah inspire us to acknowledge and act on the issue of addiction.

It's time we stopped turning away.

Shabbat shalom, v'kol tuv (with all goodness).

Rabbi Irwin Huberman