A few years ago, I received a call from a young adult in addiction recovery in another state. He wanted to create a recovery meeting specifically for Jews but wasn’t sure how to begin. I offered suggestions for finding a meeting space, sent him several formats used in Jewish recovery meetings, and, with their permission, connected him with three people in his state—former Chicagoans who had been active with JCFS Chicago Addiction Services and had experience starting and sustaining meetings—to help provide local support. 

JCFS Chicago expanded its unique Synagogue Community Partnership (SCP) to include 13 synagogues when it recently added two northwest suburban congregations (with one more in the works). Grant funding helps to underwrite a liaison from JCFS’ Jewish Community Services to work with the synagogues’ clergy, staff and congregants, as well help with programming.

The Jewish community has come a long way in acknowledging addiction, supporting those who have struggled and uplifting those in recovery. JCFS Chicago and the Chicago Board of Rabbis invite you to continue this forward momentum during a special Shabbat.

Addiction is a challenge that affects millions in the United States, with 46.3 million people struggling with substance use disorders. In the Jewish community, however, addiction is often treated as a silent issue—something that feels isolated or exceptional.

In honor of National Recovery Month, we are sharing words that are both familiar and precious to those involved in a 12-Step recovery program.

Addiction Recovery is all around us, freely shared and supported! We are now celebrating one another’s recovery just as we have always celebrated positive change in other kinds of physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. So…how do we support loved ones who are living addiction-free? 

Overdose deaths have reached unprecedented levels in recent years, particularly due to the increased stress, isolation, and barriers to addiction treatment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news: we can learn to recognize symptoms of opioid overdose and administer the rescue drug Narcan (brand name for Naloxone), which can reverse opioid overdose symptoms within minutes.

Most of us would agree that gratitude is indisputably good. It is therefore reasonable to ask: if gratitude is so obviously good and valuable, what are the barriers to gratitude?

In 1989, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) established National Recovery Month as a national observance to promote and support new evidence-based substance use treatment and recovery practices.

Overdose deaths are skyrocketing as a result of the devastating effects of synthetic opioids like fentanyl which are being unleashed by bad actors into the black-market drug supply.  Now more than ever, psychoactive drug use can be deadly.