Getting through the eight days and nights of Hanukkah while battling addiction can be a daily uphill battle, making it challenging to stay grounded and fully involved with your loved ones.
If they don’t know about your battle with addiction, you may feel anxious trying to exhibit normal behavior when you’re under the influence. Worse still, if they know about your issues, you may feel like you’re under a microscope with people watching your every step to see whether you’re struggling.
Many people with drug or alcohol addiction problems can feel a lot of pressure during Hanukkah.
Fortunately, the holiday season doesn’t have to be full of stress and anxiety. In fact, it can be the perfect time to start your recovery process. You can spend Hanukkah surrounded by a robust support system of people going through similar struggles at Recovery at the Crossroads (RACNJ).
About RACNJ
We’re the leading addiction treatment center offering Jewish Services along the Delaware River Region of New Jersey in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer and Salem Counties.
We offer the proper response to substance use problems, implementing reputable addiction recovery methods through medication and different therapies.
Our programs also expertly interweave the Jewish faith into the recovery process. We give you the chance to connect with a higher power through regular Judaism worship services.
Our kosher addiction treatment services help you build resilience to addiction by combining science with your valuable Jewish faith.
RACNJ offers multiple options for addiction treatment, including residential rehab, outpatient treatment and partial hospitalization. You can choose the most convenient program based on your personal needs, such as rehab after work or studies.
Our experienced care staff will use trauma-informed treatment methods to help you successfully combat addiction. With our help, you can achieve your full potential beyond the holiday season.
1. Show Your Family You Care About Them
Hanukkah is a time of family togetherness. It provides the opportunity to celebrate the human spirit’s ability to find light in the darkness and persevere despite difficulties.
The foundation of Hanukkah teaches us about resilience and the beauty of miracles. When the Maccabees encountered the Syrian Greeks, they were massively outnumbered. However, they fought bravely for their land, temple and the sanctity of their religion.
You can also fight for the people you cherish during Hanukkah.
Addiction doesn’t affect you alone: It hurts your friends, family and children. Embarking on the journey to addiction recovery during Hanukkah is the first step to giving everyone affected the chance to heal.
Embrace the brave spirit of the Maccabees during Hanukkah by starting your recovery process at RACNJ.
2. Hanukkah Is the Perfect Time To Reflect
Our lives are busy and stressful. As a result, many people turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with challenges. If you’ve fallen into this pattern, Hanukkah gives you the chance to reflect and realize substance abuse’s true impact.
You can look back at your life to see which aspects contribute to your problems with addiction. Hanukkah also provides the perfect opportunity to decide who you want to become this upcoming year.
At RACNJ, we provide the Hanukkah resources you need to evaluate your past life and create a better story for the future.
3. Don’t Do Recovery Alone — Join Like-Minded People
Addiction is isolating. Depending on the severity of the problem, you may not have support from family and friends during the holidays, which can make you despair further.
Undertaking addiction recovery at RACNJ gives you access to a community that shares your faith and struggles. Through group therapy, Judaism worship services and socialization, you’ll build connections that increase your spirituality and give you hope to overcome your problems with addiction.
4. The Holidays Are Ideal Time To Rekindle Your Faith
Maintaining steady faith in a higher power in our world is complex. It can be harder still if you struggle with addiction.
Many people struggling with addiction feel like failures whenever they give in to their impulses. Addiction may make you feel dirty and unworthy of Judaism.
You might even wonder if any higher power would want you to participate in a tradition steeped in holiness and miracles like Hanukkah.
However, the holidays offer you the ideal opportunity to connect with your faith. Lighting the eternal oil of the menorah can remind you of the Jewish people’s past and current story and help you place your struggle in the larger context of Jewish struggling.
The holidays can be the miracle you need to find your way back to Judaism and strengthen your resolve to attain addiction recovery.
5. The Festival of Lights and Reflective Insights
Mental health issues plague 40% of Americans and contribute to problems like addiction. Fighting drug or alcohol addiction can be more challenging than usual if you have a dual diagnosis.
Lighting the candles on the menorah lets you reflect on your life and how you can live it well. You can light a mental health menorah during Hanukkah to show your commitment to facing your mental health problems. Pray to a higher power to grant you the strength to successfully go through the hard journey of dealing with your mental health and addiction issues.
6. Learn the Joys of Getting Sober While Celebrating
“All Jewish communities kind of create a normalizing view of drinking on the holidays, which can be very problematic. It’s so embedded in our tradition that people are supposed to drink to excess on Purim,” said Rabbi Michael Perice, Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, who has documented his own struggle with opiate addiction. “For people who are alcoholics or have substance abuse issues, that excess can lead to a lot of problems.”
What is festive to some can be a nightmare for others — especially those in the early stages of recovery, which can be triggered by easy access to alcohol.
Look for every opportunity to be of service — serve a meal at a homeless shelter, reach out to a newcomer at a meeting or spend time with an elderly loved one or neighbor.
When you take the opportunity to connect with others — to see, value and honor their experience — you exercise empathy. You exist outside yourself and begin to notice all the blessings your life already contains. It doesn’t get more human or more recovery than that.
7. Light Shines Through Darkness
While addiction may be the darkest period of one’s life, there is always hope. The menorah is lit at night as darkness descends.
Working with those in addiction recovery, RACNJ continually experiences the impact that one spark of light in the darkness can make.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe famously encouraged Netanyahu before entering a difficult political challenge with words he held in mind until today, “Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, if you light one small candle, its precious light will be seen from afar, by everyone.”
Overcoming the darkness and seeking addiction treatment is paramount for living in God’s name and the true testament of Hanukkah.
Recovery at the Crossroads is a team wholly focused on finding the roots of addiction so you don’t have to live in the darkness anymore.
8. Hanukkah Is a Time for Miracles
Jewish history notes that just like the olive oil that kept the menorah lit for eight days, you can take part in your miracle this holiday season.
With the right attitude, love for God and love for yourself and your family, you can move the smallest light to promote self-care and leave the burden of addiction behind you.
The first step on the journey to recovery is admitting you have a problem. From this point, working hard to achieve your goal and accepting professional help will enable you to get better for good.
