Chabad to Bring Chanukah Light to Recovering Substance Abusers

READING, PA — When Jewish substance abusers in recovery receive permission to light up, it’s usually a cigarette – one of the few vices allowed in treatment centers – they think of.

Lighting a Chanukah menorah, however, is off-limits for safety reasons in the centers, but not at the renowned Caron Treatment Center. A close working relationship that Rabbi Shalom Lipsker, a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi with a pulpit at Shomrei Habrith in Reading, PA, has with the Caron Center has brought Chanukah [this year beginning December 4 at night] light to Jewish men and women facing their darkest days.

“Chanukah was always a big deal in my house. We always lit and sang songs, but it did not mean so much to me spiritually,” said Talya W. who entered Caron shortly before Chanukah last year. Now sober for several months and counting, Talya spoke with Lubavitch.com of the aching loneliness she felt watching everyone else prepare for their festivities. “I was so lonely. I only had Chanukah and everyone else had a big holiday.”

Then Rabbi Lipsker came on his near-daily rounds at Caron. He’s a familiar face there, popular with Jewish and non-Jewish clients and staff alike. He and his wife Chana Lipsker host a table full of Caron clients for Friday night dinner each week. With Rabbi Lipsker’s advocacy, Caron has also accommodated women who wish to light Shabbat candles during their detox and recovery periods.

Article continued (Lubavitch.com)