The Jewish community is once again plunged into mourning, grieving the loss of a young woman from our community who died tragically this week.
There are so many dramatic statements I could make here, but you are probably as tired of hearing them as I am of uttering them.
And yet the nightmare continues as the death toll rises. 75 dead since Rosh Hashana. 23 suffered from mental illness. 52 were victims of drug or alcohol abuse. All were less than 35 years old.
There are no tears left. We grieve dry-eyed, as we try to abate the torrent of death that continues to sweep through our midst.
As a people, we are reluctant to admit weakness or to ask for help. In this latest tragedy, the young woman was getting help for the issues that plagued her and had a strong support system yet, here we are, once again, mourning one of our own.
We try. We try so hard. We do our best to get help for those in need, but not all stories have happy endings. It doesn’t mean that our efforts are pointless. It just means that we have to keep trying.
We cannot throw up our hands in frustration and let the darkness win. We need to soldier on, fighting day by day, empowered by the knowledge that the success stories dramatically outnumber the losses, no matter how devastating they may be.
At Amudim, we have no choice but to keep fighting, hoping against hope that there isn’t going to be a number 76.
Zvi Gluck.
Zvi Gluck is the director of Amudim Community Resources, an organization dedicated to helping abuse victims and those suffering with addiction within the Jewish community and has been heavily involved in crisis intervention and management for the past 15 years. For more information go to www.amudim.org.
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11 Responses
We are talking about a dirty word drug over doses not suicide. We have swept this under the rug and our yeshivas and rabbis still want to deny there’s a problem
There answer is to blame everything but their instructions
The truth is non of the victims died of a drug overdose they actually died many years earlier when they were molested. A family member of mine is very involved getting help for teens and adults with drug problems. He said 99% of drug attacks in the frum community were molested as a child. So its actually not a suicide, they were murdered by their molester as a child. Until we recognize and identify the true enemy as being molestation not suicide we cant fix the problem
@Eric55
Kudos to you for coming out and acknowledging the truth.
As a mental health professional in the orthodox community I must suggest all parents ask themselves if they’re parenting their children. Young and older. Are you home to greet your child after school? Do you discuss their day with them? Know what their home work is? Aware of what may have been bothering them that day? Do you have family meals together? Discussions? Are you spending time with your kids???! I see a tragic lack of parenting. Those children whose parents are running around doing everything but parenting grow up and become my clients. They’re sad. Lost. Vulnerable. Seeking love and attention. Many turn to substitutes that lead them down a very dark road. Parenting would really help. Without texting and calling friends while children are needing time and attention.
I have been involved a lot with teens at risk and when I was a young boy I was molesterd and still built a Beautiful home על פי דרך התורה back to my point sometimes these kids come in and tell me a story rabbi you know why I take drugs because once while was learning at this and this school I was molesterd by the manager but once they start therapy the story keeps on changing yes sometimes these kids were molesterd but not always when they say that means it is true I was molesterd in a terrible way but never took drugs yes it is a challenge to over come but there is a way I a lot of drug addicts come from troubled homes I have seen more of that and it is a growing issue just parents if your marriage is sour don’t use your kids as the these kids are the hardest to place in rehab they rebell
Eric55 is right
The truth is non of the victims died of a drug overdose they actually died many years earlier when they were molested.
Are you stating that every person who dies of a drug overdose only did so because they were molested at some point in their lives?
The Wolf
The only thing we can be sure of when a person takes his own life is that he felt utterly hopeless.
The source or reasons behind that feeling can be many.
Are these numbers up or are they just being made public and wasn’t public in the past?. Also what’s the percentage vs other groups?.
Are they USA numbers or worldwide jewry numbers?.
For those of you that think many of these OD’s or suicides were victims of abuse, most probably werent.
The issue is mental health, and understanding how important medI cation and therapy are.