I was interested to read about the issue of drug testing in Jewish schools. However, unlike many of you, my approach to the issue of drug/alcohol abuse, in general, is very different as I am not teaching/administrating in a Jewish high school. My position is as a scholar/clinician. My Doctorate (HUC-JIR 1999) was related to using Jewish values/teachings to help Jewish pathological gamblers (or colloquially, compulsive gamblers) facilitate recovery. As you may know, the brain processes of substance abusers is very similar to gamblers. Therefore, recovery from substance abuse often is very similar to recovery from pathological gambling.
As the former senior educator of the Jewish National Fund in the United States, I have traveled to countless schools of the 1600 schools that used JNF's Zionist and environmental educational tools. In my conversations with Jewish middle and high school administrators and teachers over the years, they shared that there is a gambling epidemic in Jewish schools. Suffice it to mention that gambling is very common in Jewish life and I researched and wrote about Rabbis in many generations who openly criticized gambling activities in Jewish communities.
Would you be willing to write to me privately and share anecdotal evidence of the challenges your school is facing on this issue? I promise to insure your anonymity. Provide your phone number and I'll call and follow up with a conversation. Your comments will be shared without your name and specific school with potential funders of research on this problem with the goal of developing strategies and content to address this issue. I am caught in a Catch-22 because philanthropists do not believe there is a problem. I need the proof and your comments will help convince them.
You may reach me at my personal email at
drericlankin@gmail.com
Shanah Tovah U'metukah!
ד"ר ×ריק יצחק ×œ× ×§×™×Ÿ
(Rabbi)Dr. Eric M. Lankin
Adjunct Professor
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
M.A. Program in Nonprofit Management and Leadership
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2017 07:24AM by mlb.
