Activism for just causes is part of my Jewish tradition. I wasn’t given a Jewish education; such education was reserved for my brother. But I became interested in Judaism through the women’s movement and its consciousness-raising, to which I gravitated because I was the daughter of a Jewish heroin addict.
Feminism helped me understand why my mother persisted in her relationship with my father, despite the many tragic ups and downs caused by my father’s addiction.
I have just read Bethany Mandel’s two most recent Opinion pieces in the Forward, and she deserves unending gratitude for blowing the whistle on Jewish denial of addiction in our midst. The first piece, “It’s Time To Admit That The Opioid Crisis Is Also A Jewish One,” charts recent news coverage of opioid and heroin…
Dr. Sharon Leder Associate Professor Emerita is a natural organizer who founded Jewish Studies at S.U.N.Y.-Nassau Community College. Past Vice President of Am HaYam Cape Cod Havurah she currently serves its Interfaith Justice Committee. She is the author of the The Fix: A Father’s Secrets, A Daughter’s Search. Read full article here
In 2001 I moved to beautiful Cape Cod, where I completed my novel, The Fix, about addiction in the Katz family, a fictional name I used to camouflage my own family. I find it ironic that since then, this scenic coastal location has become one of the heroin capitals for opiate-related crime. I am also…
Sharon Leder lost her father to a heroin overdose when she was 17 years old. For the past 30-plus years, the associate professor emerita at the State University of New York Nassau Community College has been trying to write a memoir about it. But it just wasn’t working. Read the full article here
Eight-year-old Sara Katz huddles under the covers, listening to her parents’ muffled arguments and fighting the sleep that inevitably brings her bad dreams. Is my daddy a good father? Is it my job to fix him? As Josef Katz’ sickness worsens, young Sara is torn apart by her family’s need to keep its “shame” a…
For two years, I had been attending Al-Anon and Nar-Anon meetings, specifically groups within those categories that offer support and help to those affected by someone else’s addiction. At most meetings, I was the only Jewish person present. I was there because recently, the novel I wrote about being the Jewish daughter of a heroin…