Posted to Farbrengens on
Pipe Dream on the Web

““We felt he had a strong message,” said Rivkah Slonim, education director of Chabad House, the group responsible for choosing the speaker.”

Binghamton, NY — It was supposed to be a night to catch up on all the fun he had missed. It was supposed to be a celebration after finishing his last final exam for the year. It was supposed to just be good old horseplay in the house — while drunk, of course.

Alum Speaks on Binge Drinking

Pipe Dream on the Web

““We felt he had a strong message,” said Rivkah Slonim, education director of Chabad House, the group responsible for choosing the speaker.”

Binghamton, NY — It was supposed to be a night to catch up on all the fun he had missed. It was supposed to be a celebration after finishing his last final exam for the year. It was supposed to just be good old horseplay in the house — while drunk, of course.

Daniel Tratt, then a junior at Binghamton University, accomplished all that he had wanted to on Tuesday night, May 12, 1999, with the addition of one more thing — a 23-foot nearly-fatal fall off of a staircase that resulted in a brain injury, broken ribs, a crushed spine and lung, 18-months of agonizing rehabilitation and permanent paralysis of his lower body.

ON A MISSION

“I believe things happen for a reason,” said Tratt, after wheeling himself up a ramp onto the platform in the Mandela Room on Sunday night to speak to over 300 students. “If there’s a reason why it’s happened, it’s so I can come here to talk to you.”

The audience, mostly composed of fraternities and sororities, came to hear Tratt speak about binge drinking at an event sponsored by Chabad House Jewish Student Center and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

“We felt he had a strong message,” said Rivkah Slonim, education director of Chabad House, the group responsible for choosing the speaker.

Jack Causseaux, the greek life advisor who helped organize the event, added that binge drinking is a concern across campus.

Tratt’s drinking career started while he was a teenager and escalated when he came to BU. “When I got to college I had no one to answer to,” said Tratt, who studied marketing and business. “I had freedom. I didn’t know what to do with it.”

Getting involved with a fraternity “supplied people to drink with,” he said, “but by that time my drinking problem was already in place.”

Tratt, now 27, is currently a high school teacher in the Bronx. He is a motivational speaker with a mission to tell his story and warn about the danger of peer pressure, binge drinking and the possibility of “the tragic accident I went through,” he said. “I hope I’m able to affect somebody’s life.”

BINGE DRINKING AND THE COLLEGE CAMPUS

“What happened with this particular incident is a symptom of a greater problem,” said Gerard Johansen, associate director of BU’s Alcohol and Other Drug Program. “We pretty much parallel the rest of the country when it comes to the number of students who cross the threshold [into binge drinking]” said Johansen, citing that one in three male college students binge drink.

Tratt’s talk also struck a cord with students who are in the midst of the common college experience.

“It makes me think about Binghamton University and the fraternity system,” said Gigio Ninan, a member of Sigma Beta Rho, a multicultural fraternity that includes some members that abstain from alcohol for religious reasons. “There are a lot of brothers in my fraternity who withhold from drinking. I wish everybody could be like that.”

Tratt’s effort to spread his message was evident as he fervently spoke to the audience that night. And his goal was clear: “[so] you can walk away with something you can hold on to.”

Related Articles

25 Comments

  • Lubavitch Doctor

    What about the binge drinking in our yeshivas?
    We need to address this issue as well.

  • me

    maybe the lubavitchers can take a lesson from this guy and stop encoraging (and giving) our way way way under age boys so much to drink! We are producing alcholics which is life long addiction and illness! lets take a lesson!

  • Fix the Problem

    Our Rebbe set a very clear standard about drinking. Unfortunately, most people "Know Better". I myself was very guilty of breaking this standard while I was a Bochur in Yeshiva. When I was in Yeshiva, alcohol was as readily available and as acceptable as water. There were countless nights where the drinking was for the sole sake of getting drunk and high. Neither my friends nor I were ever seriously disciplined about this major abuse. On the contrary – it was “Chasidish”.

    In the secular world there is an enormous problem of alcohol and drug abuse. For some reason, in the Frum world, and particularly in the Lubavitch world, people believe that this problem does not exist. It does exist – and it is not a minor problem affecting a few “outcasts”. It is a major problem and it starts at an extremely young age. It is not normal, but it is fully acceptable, that 14 kids are getting wasted with their Mashpia at a Farbrengen. As long as the Yeshiva’s allow for the status quo to remain – this problem will only continue to grow.

    Rules should be very clear and very strict. At best: no underage drinking allowed in Yeshiva. At minimum: if there is to be drinking – only 4 small shots as outlined clearly by the Rebbe. Additionally, if a Yeshiva student is caught abusing the rules, that student should not be the only party have to deal with the consequences. The Mashpia, teacher, etc who fed him that alcohol or who was simply administering the Farbrengen should be punished too.

  • CH Parent

    Ditto to what everyone said.
    Let’s not be ashamed to educate our children on the difference between saying a L’chaim at a Farbrengen and drinking irresponsibly.

  • A REAL CHASIID

    EXCUSE ME, MR. FIX THE PROBLEM. HOW DO YOU COME OFF CALLING YOURSELVES "CHASIDISH" OR CHASIDIM OF OUR REBBE WHEN IT WAS HE WHO CLEARLY STATED JUST HOW MUCH A BOCHUR IS ALLOWED TO DRINK. WHEN A BOCHUR GETS DRUNK JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT HE IS ABSOLUTELY GOING AGAINST THE REBBE’S WISHES. WHAT KIND OF A CHASID IS THAT???????????

  • ISchier

    The question is – do the kids keep getting wasted as adults or is it something they get out of their system. Everyone I know, myself included, lets go sometimes – Purim, Tishrei, an occasional long winter Shabbos night or long summer Shabbos day – but I only know of chronic alcoholics by way of the mikveh rumor mill, and I pretty much forget or never process that kind of information to begin with.

    Still, encouraging teens to drink at yeshiva is against the law, leads to behavior that is hepech hatorah, and against what the Rebbe wants!

  • anon i miss

    well as lubavitch/jewish people we like to say lchaims, etc. on special occasions. we should just know our limits so it doesnt turn into more!

  • chana

    it is very sad that one time that some ne gets dunk thier whole life can be ruwend!!!!!!

  • Stop Drinking!

    Drinking can ruin your life!!!!!!!!!!!
    dont do it! for alll u yeshiva bored soulz stop drinking!!!!!!!!

  • zee

    i understand where these kids who drink are coming from, in russia and the old country they always drank . our grandparents brought over the chassidish tradition over to america. the thing is, many boys abuse this concept. teens like to drink and alot of them excuse themself by saying its 4 the farbie when thats not there intentions at all .its ok 4 sirius boys who want to have a spirital farbie to have a little drink , not 4 the irrisponcable kids that just want to go crazy ,then its totally unacceptable!AND A WORNING TO ALL THOSE GUYS THAT DRINK AND LOSE THEIR MINDS,DRINKING BRINGS OUT YOUR ESSENCE AND SEEING AFEW GUYS DRUNK, I WAS ABLE TO SEE WHO THEY REALLY WERE!SOME OF THEM ITS NICE TO SEE WHAT TRUE CHASSIDIM THEY ARE WHILE OTHERS UMMMMMMMMM ITS PRETTY SAD TO FIND OUT WHAT REALLY GOES ON BEHIND THAT BLACK HAT .

  • stop the double standard

    It’s interesting how when the goyim in our neighborhood get drunk we all sit around and say, "What else can you expect from these people." But lately people in our community are abusing acohol in the name of "saying L’Chaim" and nobody criticizes them. They walk home drunk and make public nuisances and we all act like we don’t see it.
    If we are Chasidim then we have to stop living with this double standard and act apropriately, meaning not drinking tons of alochol at the fabrengens, and therefore knowing our limit.

  • Alcohol, Then and Now

    I have an uncle who is a mashpia and is famous for his ability to consume large quantities of alcohol, in bulk. What nobody knows it that his liver is shot. The functioning of his liver is compromised, he has what is called liver Cirrhosis. It functions a bit, but the damage is irreversible and he is on a diet in which he cannot eat anything processed by the liver, such as salt. But there is no way for him to quit alcohol.

    He also has chronic back pain. Alcohol is his pain killer. He also wants to kill himself. so he drinks, remembers the old times, wakes up in his vomit, and his talmidim carry him home and put him on his couch, every thursday night. "chsidish"!

    However there is another side to what it means to party, the way our elders did. There was something real about a gathering of chsidim in the times when they lived with the beautiful spirit of yidishkeit, and of their bittersweet lives as chsidim. The most I remember was farbrenges with the Rebbe, but what remains with me is the memory of the farbrengens that used to take place in the apartment building we lived on, at 675 Empire. I was a kid, they were the bochrim. They’d sing beautiful nigunim. They lived with the sichos. The bochrim were a class, maybe from Oholei Torah maybe 770. They were a strong group. I always wanted to be like them when I grow up. My father and I would leave the window open so we could hear them. Once my uncle took me with him, to the bochrim’s farbrengen. They were plasterd. Glass bottles were smashed all over the floor. The place was a mess. This was in the early Mem’s, when the bochrim lived the spirit of 770. Today the times have changed, we live with other things, but of course, alcohol hasn’t changed.

  • stay sober

    The boys (9th Grade & up) are encouraged by their mashpias. A meeting was held in my home with their Rabbeim. When the issue of drinking came up, and all the parents expressed their adamant request that their sons not be exposed to liquor, we were laughed at and told, "This should be your worst problem." Unfortunately, the mashpia/rebbi is already immune to the idea of no drinking, as he had been exposed at a young age. A compromise was reached when one father suggested the boys be served wine only.
    Imagine that the parents had to argue with the very people they are paying, not to go against their explicit wishes – albeit the fact that it IS ILLEGAL TO SERVE LIQUOR TO PEOPLE UNDER 21!, AGAINST THE DIRECTIVES OF THE REBBE, & CAUSES LIVER DISEASE!
    Shabbos drunks are drunks! The behavior is disgusting and unhealthy.

    To ISchier:
    There is no excuse for becoming drunk – escpecially on so many occasions.

  • Alcohal? what about...

    To stay sober
    The teacher was right. Compared with some of the other influences the boys are exposed to these days Alcoholism IS the last thing to worry about.

  • Big Deal

    When I was 13 our class had our first farbrengen. The class was quiet. The first thing we hear from the mashpia is "Ersht Darf Men Zugen Lichayim". We said Lichayim. After he had his drink, he continued, "Yetzt, ERSHED darf men zugen Lichayim"- and we all sure did. We were waiting to hear something and waiting to see what a farbrengen is. and then, after his second glass, we were ready to begin the farbrengen. And the farbrengan consisted of zugen Lichayim. So, now that we will begin, we all need to fill up our Kelitcke and say lichayim", which we all of course did. Some of us were able to drink more, some less. I don’t recall much about how the farbrengen continiued, except that the Absolute had more flavor then the Smirnoff. Then I went home. Then my parents were following me and looked very concerned. I couldn’t figure out why. Then my father got me a Shisel, and asked me to vomit. I didn’t understand why. Anyway, the next day our principle came into our class and made an announcement that there will be no more farbrengens. The boys were upset, and no one knew why. I knew. It was the first and last farbrengen for the class that year.

    Ever since then, I don’t drink much. However once in a while couldn’t hurt. I believe that although we are taught to drink and how to drink it still does not mean that we are taught how to be alcoholics. Those who suffer from alcoholism are not the ones who were with me in that ninth grade farbrengen. Alcoholics have their own problems which led them to be alcoholics. a normal human being who is exposed to alcohol in his teenage years does not make him a case and does not lead his life down the direction headed for the sewer. It is those who have problems in their lives, or I should say challenges, heavy ones, who turn to alcohol to drown their problems, only to find out that the problems float.

    I would also like to say that alcohol is not something new, like a new poison in society. The alcoholic’s problems are the problems, not the drink. Notice that alcohol is a social lubricant ever since the history of mankind begun. It is a beverage of every nation of every time. It is very much a part of man. It is mentioned in all of the literature of the Torah. Alcohol of any sort is not a problem; its abuse is the problem. The lack of other places to turn to for pain is the problem. The addiction is the problem, and none of the boys who were intoxicated with me in ninth grade have any of these problems.
    The only negative association with alcohol I have is that it gives me a headache. It leaves me a bit out of it for a few days, but unless it affects my brain chemistry, so what.

  • A concerned mother

    To Alcohal? what about…

    How could you say that’s the last thing? Alcoholism, in addition to being terribly damaging to the body can/often does lead to other awful behaviors–abuse being one and the others I don’t want to name!

    Each person and family must start at home and imbibe real Chassidus–I’ll continue to believe that "real" farbrengens in the "real" old days weren’t about waking up in one’s on vomit in the street or elsewhere. We must strengthen ourselves in Tznius and other areas to help ourselves and our children! May Hashem help!

  • Mother of Beautiful Daughters

    Attention Bochurim! Do you want to get a good shidduch? When searching for eligible candidates for our daughters, we learned that one of the questions we had to add to the list was, "Does he get drunk regularly?" If the answer was yes, the candidate was eliminated immediately from consideration.
    Drinking in moderation (according to the Rebbe’s guidelines)—yes! Getting drunk at every farbrengen or every Shabbos afternoon—no way!
    There is one yeshiva in particular known for encouraging bochurim to drink, use foul language and even "mooning" at farbrengens. We would not send our sons there, no matter how good the learning or chassidishe chinuch, and we would not let our daughters meet candidates from there.

  • cc

    All these comments- on both sides- are really true and to the point. But I do want to point out what Big Deal wrote ‘Alcohol of any sort is not a problem; its abuse is the problem. The lack of other places to turn to for pain is the problem.’
    This last sentence is right. The lack of knowing where to go to, where to turn for pain is a real problem. So many kids are dealing with different things, and dont know where to turn for help.

  • no mitzvah to get sick

    There’s no Mitzvah to get sick from drinking, only to get happy.
    Glad to hear the Rebbe gave a limit, 4 shots, so lets stick to it, not abuse farbrengens, simchas torah, purim, etc.
    take care of you health!!

  • the art of makinng a L-chayim

    I grew up in a home where "saying L’chayim" (on 1/4 or less of a tiny L’chaim cup) was as much a part of our shabbos table as chicken soup. But it was only that.

    I think most people loose the conception of what a "real l’chayim" is when they take more than 1/4 oz. of "l’chayim" at a time.

    Once you’ve exceeded this limit, it’s not a l’chayim anymore, it’s a drug!

    My point is, being taught at an early age to "mach l’chayim" does not lead to abuse, indulging in the drink because you are "making L’chayim" does!

  • Dena Silver

    More attention should be paid to the emotional problems of parents in the community and the children, who are self-medicating by binge-drinking.