O pinion
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski Made Jewish Addiction Work
Possible Twerski deserves to be who was known simply in our the matter with anyone who
saw the issue differently.

remembered as a tzaddik (a family as “Reb Shia.”
In addition to being avail-
I will never forget the time
righteous person), a title that
he rightfully earned in his I reached out to him to discuss able to offer guidance on
lifetime. But Twerski was so the suitability of 12-step specific cases or emergencies
much more than a psychia- meetings, trying to ascertain as they arose, Twerski was
trist, author of dozens of books how I could send religious helpful to me in many other
and brilliant Torah scholar. He Jewish clients to a meeting ways. Nearly 15 years ago, I
was also a man who positively that more often than not was found myself dealing with a
impacted countless families being held in a church (many crisis involving a family that
and individuals in so many Orthodox Jews believe Jewish had multiple children living in
ways, ranging from pulling law forbids one to enter any an abusive environment. With
numerous rabbis weighing in
out the rug from within the Christian houses of worship).

BY RABBI ZVI GLUCK
Explaining to me that cases with different views, I reached
community of addiction to
ON JAN. 31, the Jewish being outspoken about abuse that had reached that level out to Twerski for an outside
community lost one of the
biggest forces fighting for those
who are suffering the most.

Rabbi Twerski also taught me the perplexing nature of recovery. He
At Amudim, a crisis inter-
vention organization serving explained that while some go through recovery and fare well in the long
the Orthodox Jewish commu- run, others keep repeating the same destructive patterns again and again.

nity, we have been humbled
by the increasing number of
were clearly life threatening, opinion. He introduced me to
community members who issues, and so much more.

he told me straight out, “When someone that he felt could get
My father,
Rabbi Edgar
have come to accept the reali-
a patient has cancer, do you to the heart of the matter — Dr.

Gluck, and
Twerski shared
a ties of mental health challenges
look for the best doctor or a David Pelcovitz. Not only was
close relationship
that spanned
in recent years. None of what
Jewish doctor?” He discussed Pelcovitz perfectly suited to
60 years.

When I
became we do today would be possible
this issue in one of his many help me navigate the complex-
involved with
those in
danger without the groundbreaking
books, and he made it clear ities of this particular case, but
of slipping
through our
societal work of Rabbi Dr. Abraham J.

to me that he was more than he became a tremendous inspi-
cracks, it
was a
privilege to
be Twerski, of blessed memory,
able to
reach out
to the
man happy to have a discussion on ration to me and an invaluable
who died at 90 years old.

asset to Amudim since the day
we opened in 2014.

Over the years, Twerski
became a guiding light for
Amudim. He wasn’t able to
join us for our 2015 mental
health conference, a ground-
breaking two days that gave
mental health professionals
the opportunity to share their
feedback from the trenches,
helping us focus our efforts to
help as many people as possible
in their personal struggles.

But he worked with us every
step of the way to create the
program, spending hours on
the phone with Amudim’s
founder, Mendy Klein, and
me in order to maximize the
event’s potential.

Rabbi Twerski also taught
me the perplexing nature
of recovery. He explained
that while some go through
recovery and fare well in
the long run, others keep
repeating the same destruc-
tive patterns again and again.

In order to end the vicious
See Gluck, Page 26
Finding God in Nature After My Dog’s Death
BY DIONNA DASH
MY DOG’S NAME was
Solomon Samson Dash. He had
a nose longer than his face and
could be calmed by listening to
my family sing Ma’oz Tzur on
Chanukah. We once pinned a
kippah on his head and brought
16 FEBRUARY 11, 2021
him to our synagogue for a pet
parade. He loved sweets, even
the kosher-for-Passover ones,
and his German Shepherd
stature echoed his kingly
namesake. He was Jewish
through and through.

My dog died at the begin-
ning of July 2020. His neck
gave a funny little twist and his
throat made a rattling groan,
and even now, I still believe I
witnessed the moment his soul
left his body. My family and I
wore kippot and recited Psalm
23 over his still frame and I
freaked out when I found out
he had to be cremated because
Jews don’t do that!
The very next day, we drove
up to the Pennsylvania Grand
Canyon, to a farmhouse that
was clean and fur-free and
didn’t smell so eerily of the
past 12 years.

The first day we were there,
it rained, heavily, as if the world
was moaning. I laughed and
ran and let the violent shivers
cleanse my empty hands. The
mornings brought crisp air and
fog rolling off the mountain-
tops. Someone said Solly
would’ve loved the open land
and the new smells and I hoped
suddenly and desperately that
his soul wouldn’t turn into
a dybbuk because we hadn’t
covered up the mirrors in our
house before we left. In the
nights, we roasted marshmal-
lows around a fire and gazed
JEWISH EXPONENT
into the midnight expanse.

My brother explained how the
stars we see are already dead
by the time our eyes capture
them, and I thought about how
something departed could still
seem to light our whole world.

When we finally made it
up to the peaks surrounding
the canyon, my mind pictured
Solly in the shadow of the
valley of death below. My
labored breathing had almost
nothing to do with the climb
up, and the edge of the trail
I was balancing on seemed
increasingly unstable. Yet the
air smelled of wildflowers and
slight condensation, and only
the rustle of the tree leaves and
the calls of low-flying hawks
dipped into the circling silence.

I stepped back a bit onto firmer
ground. Standing atop that
mountain, surrounded by
towering trees that had been
there for decades before me
and would continue to be
there for decades after me, I
felt grounded. I stood in that
dichotomy of life so fleeting
and life endlessly evergreen
and I accepted it all. Later that
day, my mom told me she had
seen Solly in the woods on
the way back down. He had
told her that he was OK, and
that it was time to let him go,
and when I closed my eyes
See Dash, Page 34
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM