Program Advanced to Combat Alcoholism in Jewish Community

A program aimed at combating alcoholism in the Jewish community was advanced today by the Task Force on Alcoholism of the Commission on Synagogue Relations of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

For too long, according to Marshall Hochhauser, Task Force chairman, excessive drinking among Jews “has been an issue that was discussed in whispers. However, the fact that alcoholism in the Jewish community is rapidly approaching that of the general population, demands an all-out effort to achieve a solution to a worsening dilemma.”

With Hochhauser at a news conference at the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies headquarters were Rabbi Isaac Trainin, director of the Commission on Synagogue Relations; Rabbi Henry Glazer, associate director; Rabbi Barry Woolf, Jewish Chaplain for the State of Minnesota; Mel Goldstein, director of teen and therapy programs at the Samuel Field YM-YWHA, in Little Neck, Queens, an affiliated agency of Federation, and Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, spiritual leader of the Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

The program outlined by the Task Force included:

* An appeal to some 1000 synagogues throughout the city to open their doors to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and similar groups so that Jewish citizens and their families troubled by alcoholism would be able to seek assistance in their own community.

* A series of seminars for members of the rabbinate and for social workers that would be led by Task Force members and by experts in the field. The New York City affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism has offered to provide experts to take part in these educational sessions.

* Closer ties between rabbis and social work agencies, through ongoing workshops and seminars, to educate the rabbinate on how to identify and help the Jewish alcoholic.

* An improved system of referrals to social work agencies and the use of the Speakers Bureau of the Commission on Synagogue Relations to develop a broader awareness of the magnitude of the problem.

REASONS FOR THE PROBLEM

Trainin noted that “for too long, the theory held that “Jews aren’t supposed to drink.” However, the work of Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, which touches every facet of Jewish life in and around this city, has demonstrated to us that this theory is no longer valid.”

There are several reasons for the rise in drinking among Jews, Trainin noted, “including the pressures, complexities and tension of every-day life, a changing value structure and an erosion of the family unit that has become as evident in the Jewish community as it has among other groups. Our overall goal must be to first identify those who have a drinking problem, and then to bring to bear the manpower, resources and expertise necessary to help them to realize a solution to their difficulty.”

The news session preceded an all-day conference “Alcohol Abuse and the Jewish Community,” a program that is typical of those that will be conducted on a regular basis to spotlight the need to attack the problem of excessive drinking among Jewish citizens, according to Hochhauser.