Having hosted several highly successful awareness events over the past year in Lakewood, Queens, the Five Towns, Springfield, New Jersey and West Hempstead, Amudim is planning a blockbuster evening in Brooklyn dedicated to removing the stigma associated with addiction.
The May 1 st event at Ateres Chynka will be presented by OHEL, Amudim, the SAFE Foundation, Our Place, United Task Force, the Flatbush Jewish Community Council and Relief Resources and will feature Amudim’s rabbinic advisor, Harav Elya Brudy, shlita. Dr. Akiva Perlman, LCSW, who has extensive experience working with addiction in the frum community, will speak about providing assistance and support to both addicts and their families, and Dr. Norman Blumenthal, the Zachter Family Chair in trauma and crisis counseling at OHEL, will discuss identifying and diminishing risk factors for addicts.
“Addiction doesn’t discriminate,” explained Rabbi Zvi Gluck, founder of Amudim. “It affects people in every city, every community and every zip code. It can affect the family down the block, your son’s good friend that he has been hanging out with since third grade or the guy you sit next to at Daf Yomi every morning. The sooner we face that we aren’t immune to this problem, and the sooner we remove the stigma of addiction, the quicker we can turn the tide in this all out war we are fighting.”
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9 Responses
I think the concept of promoting awareness about these problems is very important and I support Zvi Gluck’s efforts to help people whether they be victims of abuse or are suffering from addiction. However the language of “removing stigma” is troubling. This is a particular usage of language which has been deployed in other arenas of non profit and government social welfare programming particularly in the realms of poverty, gender and related issues. You will find that “removal of stigma” of “poverty”, and “hunger” is an item that ranks high on the agenda of organizations and agencies that deal with these issues. Similarly we are presented with “pride parades” every year around the world and even in Yerushalaim Ir Hakodesh. Have you not noticed how in the last few years Transgenderism has been destigmatized as well to the extent that if one criticizes these things one is labeled a “bully” or a “phobic”. Similarly the death with dignity/suicide/Euthanasia movement which has been glorified and promoted of late. There is a dark side to de-stigmatization. Getting rid of stigma about previously taboo subjects is part of a deliberate strategy to weaken traditional family values especially the concept of personal responsibility and self control and self regulation and traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity. It is part of the game plan of the left, and should not be employed by organizations in the Frum community. It is also possible that de-stigmatization contributes to the problem by making it more socially acceptable. Busha/shame can be a powerful deterrent.
We should also be asking why all of a sudden do we have a Heroin epidemic in the country in general and in our community in particular to the extent that Naloxone training is being promoted everywhere. The question has to be asked where did this start, who started it, and who is profiting from it? I don’t know the answer myself, but I suspect if we “follow the money” we will be led to some uncomfortable answers. It should be pointed out that in the past it has been alleged that the CIA introduced LSD to the counter culture in the 1960s. It has also been alleged that Federal covert operations sparked the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. Something is rotten in Denmark and I don’t think it is the stigma.
@Mayermayer…wow that ramble is probably the most uninformed and uneducated post I have ever read anywhere…..u think I am now dumber for what you just wrote….i would counter your post and try to make you see where you’re ramble went totally out to left field but I really don’t think you would even get it….my only suggestion is that you make it your business to attend and gain some perspective.
#1,
I understand the point you’re trying to make however I don’t think you could be more wrong. The argument you make is that by “removing stigma” you make the issue at hand more mainstream (much the same way it happened with legalizing equality in marriage, the trans issue, etc.). The argument here really is whether people CHOOSE this lifestyle or if it’s something that they have no control over. Would you make the same argument about “removing the stigma” of cancer in the jewish community? This argument has been made in the jewish world with 2 issues already – mental health and molestation. The issue is, nobody is choosing to have mental health issues just because we’re removing the stigma. And nobody is going to think “now that we removed the stigma of drug abuse I can finally shoot heroin”. It’s a sickness just like cancer and the stigma KILLS people. The sooner we can all understand this and stop judging people because they have a different kind of sickness than us, the sooner we can start saving lives.
Your point about following the money is 100% right. The epidemic was started by big pharma and doctors recklessly writing out prescriptions for opiates and benzos. However right now knowing that isn’t helping us. We have to do whatever we can to put a stop to it regardless of who caused it.
This is one of the most urgent issues facing our community. It is pikuach nefesh mamash! More important than filling a ball stadium for internet awareness.
there is no stigma , there is a lack of good solutions, this ad makes it sound as if we dont go for help,no ones head is in the sand blame the shmutz not klal yisroel .i know first hand that almost every suicide WENT FOR HELP ( to psychs, out patient and many even in patient) or at least offered help. so many of these families mortgaged and were makriv everything to pay for rehab. yiddishe mothres & fathers keep on trying unfortunately the results are nothing to write home about hashem yerachem aleinu
#5,
Saying there is no stigma is plain ignorant. So is claiming that you know firsthand that “almost every suicide” went for help.
I would agree with you that we have gotten better about the stigma surrounding drug abuse, suicide, and mental health. However, I’ve lost friends to this disease and almost across the board they felt “stigmatized”. Yes, lots of families make tremendous sacrifices to get them in to rehabs and therapy but for many people who aren’t facing this issue in their immediate family it’s easier to point fingers and alienate than to look in the mirror and realize there is an issue.
Im actually impressed with mayerman. Someone in the world actually sees through this fad! Lately it has become a “thingl to discuss evry problem tht exists in the world because you cant push things under the rug. That might be the case. If a situation comes to your front door, u should deal with it, but tht doesnt mean you need to remove the rug entirely. We dnt need to be bombarded with information about every illness and issue just because some people need help in that area.another point i want to make is that if you shelter yourself and ur kids in the first place, you wouldnt need this massive “unveiling” of information
#7,
People like you have blood on their hands.
@cuzisaid…so you’re saying unless you have a specific issue nobody else should talk about it? there’s a basic point you and your friend are missing here, the stigma is not about doing a drug or drinking it’s about not being able to come forward,after the fact, because people like you will think they are less than, when that should never stop anyone from getting thanks. comments like yours are ignorant and immature and hopefully you should never have to learn that lesson firsthand.