Coming Back to life

   The article in the Tishrei 5757 issue, "Coming Back to Life, Dealing with the Problem of Alcohol" generated a large amount of letters from families wanting to share with our readers their experiences. Many different advices were offered on how to cope and deal with the problem. We will print some of these stories in future issues of the magazine.

   Following is an excerpt of one of the letters received:

   " . . . the curse of addiction can occur in any family, even Orthodox ones. It happened in ours. I believe the road to recovery lies in recognizing the symptoms and dealing with them honestly, no matter the pain. . . People tend to believe that addicts can beat the disease if only they were disciplined enough. The otherwise successful professionals we met during the family visit to the rehab center belie this seemingly logical point. As a general rule, if you can beat the craving yourself you're not truly addicted. The 12-step program of AA and directs the addict to the path of spiritual growth necessary to counter-balance the addictive craving. . . There is no cure, only recovery. . . At one off the support meetings I realized the full meaning of the chant Dayenu in the Passover Haggadah. Each level of freedom from slavery, personal and national liberation, and spiritual growth is acknowledged in the song by the repetition of the word Dayenu (It is enough). The Rabbis were wise to recognize advancement after each difficult achievement. At the same time, without the initial step of escaping slavery, there would be nothing else."

Visas for Life-Sugihara

   I was fascinated to read your feature story about Japanese Consul, Chiune Sugihara, in the Tishrei 5757 edition of The Jewish Homemaker. However, the wide publicity surrounding Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Lithuania, tells only part of the story of the rescue of Polish Jews trapped in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1940. Sugihara, serving as Japanese consul, issued transit visas permitting refugees to travel through Japan to some final destination. On that point, Sugihara's contribution is very clear. What has been largely ignored is the story of how and from whom the refugees got the destination visas to permit them to travel through Japan.

   Two other people-Jan Zwartendijk, the Dutch consul, and Nathan Gutwirth, a Dutch yeshiva student-played crucial roles in the prolific distribution of destination visas that allowed more than 2,000 Polish Jews to escape certain death in Lithuania.

   In an effort to balance the historical record and because Sugihara's role has been amply described elsewhere, we offer an account that focuses on the important untold parts of the story.

   [In a future issue of The Jewish Homemaker, this very interesting account will be offered to our readers. Anyone interested in receiving the account immediately should contact Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation at 1-800-469-2697.]

Rabbi Ronald L. Gray
Executive Vice-President of Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America, Inc.

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