THIS IS A TEST SITE
Mental health concerns in the context of faith:
A Jewish Perspective
Meet Rachel:
Rachel grew up in Vancouver. She is the oldest of two children of a modern orthodox family. They regularly attended synagogue and were part of the synagogue’s on-going activities. In her last year of high school, Rachel was introduced to Crystal Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth). Rachel’s grades began to drop, she was not able to complete tasks, she was at times withdrawn and sleeping all day while at other times, when high, felt like she could achieve anything no matter how unrealistic. She had deep feelings of shame and self loathing. Rachel tried several times to quit but the withdrawal symptoms were unbearable.
Participating in her synagogue was an integral part of Rachel’s identity, but she found it difficult to wrestle with her own feelings of unworthiness, why she was struggling so much and why her friends were no longer comfortable around her. All her life she believed that if you observe the mitzvah’s, God would look after you.
She got up the courage to share her addiction struggle with one friend at Shul. She was told she needed to “pray more” to get over it. This was very confusing for her during her time of distress, as “no matter how much I prayed, my cravings did not go away” said Rachel. She felt judged and dismissed by the Jewish community. She began to believe the reason for her addiction was that she was not being a good Jew and that she was helpless against temptation. People did not want to be around her when she was experiencing her highs and crashes. They were afraid of her skinny and nervous appearance. This led her to feel even more isolated and depressed at the loss of friends in the community. Even though Rachel wanted to have the support of her community, she felt she did not have the resources to maintain the friendships.
Rachel needed medical and psychological help. Instead she lost all connections that could lead her in the right direction.
How can the Jewish community be different? Can we break down the stigma of addiction and mental illness? How do we incorporate our Jewish belief that every Jew, no matter what their actions are, is a member of the Jewish people?
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