By Emily Heeren & Marla Kaufman
Dear Friends,
BaMidbar envisions a Jewish community that actively supports teens and young adults in cultivating mental health and wellness. We strive to ensure that young people are able to navigate life’s challenges, develop their sense of personal resilience, and thrive in the face of adversity.
As rates of anxiety and depression continue to soar, BaMidbar has historically targeted these areas of need; however, youth and young adults are also experiencing some of the highest rates of substance misuse in the United States.
Youth mental health initiatives are not complete without a focus on substance use disorder and all forms of addictions. As such, BaMidbar was thrilled to be invited to continue the work that the Jewish Addiction Awareness Network (JAAN) started in elevating this part of the mental health conversation in our communities.
Marla Kaufman, JAAN’s Founder and longtime Executive Director, has been a dear friend and partner to BaMidbar over the years. She has served on our Board and collaborated on numerous projects, reminding us that we are not alone in our work just as we are not alone in our struggles. We deeply value the organization she has built and want to thank her for trusting it in our care.
We welcome you to read Marla’s thoughts below and invite you to share your well wishes with her as she makes this transition at jaan@bamidbartherapy.org.
To learn more about addiction programs offered by BaMidbar, click here. Please reach out with any questions or to start a conversation about working with us to bring a program to your community.
With Gratitude,
The BaMidbar Team
REFLECTIONS ON THE TRANSITION FROM JAAN FOUNDER MARLA KAUFMAN
Dear Supporters and Colleagues,
Creating and building Jewish Addiction Awareness Network (JAAN) has been an honor and a privilege. Since launching JAAN eight years ago, I’ve connected and collaborated with inspiring, courageous and dedicated individuals, families, synagogues, community leaders, and organizations. It has been a transformative journey, and now it is time for me to begin the next phase of my life — retirement.
This wasn’t an easy decision. However, it is one I can make with confidence and optimism knowing that longtime JAAN partner BaMidbar will continue to build upon our work. I’d like to share some reflections on this moment.
The Why of JAAN
There was a “before” and “after” in our family life demarcated by the summer of 2006, when it came to light that our oldest son, then 16 and fresh off a teen trip to Israel, had quickly and unbeknownst to us, fallen into the grip of addiction.
We were naïve and uneducated. I thought, “How could this happen to a family like ours?” I believed that love, stability, and putting Jewish values, practices, and community at the forefront of our family life were protections against such maladies.
“How could this happen to a family like ours?”
Our family needed love, understanding, and support. When I summoned the courage to reach out, some were supportive, but many in our close-knit Jewish community couldn’t even look me in the eye. We discovered that our experience wasn’t unique within Jewish communities, where addiction is often stigmatized, denied, and avoided. The judgment and isolation greatly added to our pain.
In 2015, I decided that rather than disengaging from our community, I would reengage to bring education and programs to foster understanding of substance use disorder and provide support for families like ours. What started as a local effort soon became a national endeavor. In April 2016, Jewish Addiction Awareness Network (JAAN) was established.
The What of JAAN
JAAN’s mission statement reads, “To increase understanding of the disease of addiction and decrease stigma by connecting individuals, families, and professionals across the Jewish spectrum in order to explore the intersection of Judaism and recovery, exchange resources, and support those in crisis.”
To fulfill JAAN’s mission, our focus has been in four key areas:
1) Training and educating Jewish clergy, professionals, and institutions.
2) Offering open community programs with many collaborative partners that promote addiction awareness, inclusion, and the joy of recovery.
3) Providing resources, disseminating information, and creating materials.
4) Responding with compassion when a struggling person or family member reaches out or when someone in recovery seeks more Jewish connection.
The Future of JAAN & Why We Chose BaMidbar to Ensure It
JAAN and BaMidbar were founded the same year. Just as JAAN was getting off the ground, I was introduced to Jory Hanselman Mayschak, BaMidbar’s founding director and now emerita CEO.
Over the years, JAAN and BaMidbar have collaborated countless times, addressing addiction and mental health from a Jewish perspective. I also served on BaMidbar’s Board for 5+ years and witnessed BaMidbar’s thoughtful growth, effected through sound deliberation and strategy.
BaMidbar addresses mental health, wellness, and resiliency with an emphasis on teens and young adults utilizing dynamic, evidence-based modalities along with the wisdom of Judaism. They provide holistic care that bridges the gap between young people and their ecosystems of support — family, community, synagogues, and youth-serving organizations like camps and Hillels. Their stellar offerings include community education, professional development, and clinical services.
By integrating JAAN’s programs and materials, BaMidbar’s efforts in addressing the mental health challenges specific to addiction will expand. BaMidbar will thoughtfully incorporate JAAN’s addiction content, adding to their programs, with the goal of eventually providing direct-service counseling for substance use disorder and other addictions.
There can be no denying that the Jewish community is not immune to addiction. Thankfully, Jews are also among the over 20.9 million Americans in long-term recovery, including our oldest son.
The needs in the Jewish community for programs and services geared toward prevention, those actively struggling, and those in recovery, are significant. BaMidbar is perfectly poised to meet these needs, continuing efforts to bring addiction out of the shadows.
Final Words
There is a very well-known Jewish text in Pirkei Avot 2:16 from Rabbi Tarfon that says, “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” I’m proud of the work JAAN has done, and I’m excited to pass the baton to BaMidbar. While stepping back, I will serve as an advisor and resource to BaMidbar as they move forward in the addiction space.
The people I have met through my work with JAAN — collaborators, Jewish professionals, and especially individuals and families touched by addiction – has been the biggest blessing. May we all go from strength to strength.
With gratitude,
Marla Kaufman