Arnie Goldfein and Rabbi Nahum Simon,
Co-Executive Directors of
Rodfei Shalom Fellowship, Inc.
Events for ALL Jews ALL 12 Step recovery program
COMBINING RECOVERY AND SPIRITUALITY WITHIN JUDAISM
RECOVERY NEWSLETTER – 3/17/08
Hi Family,
The impressions from the retreat we had at the Perlstein Conference Center in Lake Delton, WI, are still coming in. As I said, it was truly amazing!! Here are some more thoughts and impressions that the retreat participants have sent me.
"It is now a week later and I am still floating from the retreat last weekend. Now that the abuse I experienced is over and I have my voice again, I came to the retreat to share, to give back and to make my mark. But God has other plans, I guess, because you all have humbled me tremendously. I listened a lot this weekend, holding back my 'need' to have you hear me. I realized that yes, there are times to talk, but I learned more about myself at the retreat by listening. Listening to others sharing their differences, their pain and their innermost feelings. And, I listened to what makes us the same – those deep secrets and feelings that have made our decisions for us for so many years. Today, I don't need to have an open voice; I have to have an open ear. Nahum and Arnie, great work!!! Keep it up! May G-d bless you for doing this. Thank you!!"
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to understand that each person in their respective programs have their sensitivities that I must be aware of and take into consideration. I never saw that my abuse, sex and food issues are not the all encompassing answer to other's issues." More impressions yet to come.
2) New feature: Snippets of Recovery: Individual's short stories about their disease(s) and recovery in small does. I remember as a child playing basketball for money and flipping baseball cards. I used to say that I had a great baseball card collection. What I had was a set of baseball cards that I could flip and win with. I once lost my favorite baseball card in a game and at first, I was devastated. Then I just passed it off saying "it was God's Will." Forty years later and hundreds of thousands of dollars lost in casinos now coupled with feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and desperation, I was still saying it was God's Will. Until God's Will was for me to start working a program! (To be continued…)
3) 
Our Email Discussion Group. Our email Listserv discussion group for all those recovering from addiction and their family members is open for all to share their experience, strength, hope and Spirituality with other Jews in recovery. There are no requirements to be a part of the discussion, as long as postings meet the guidelines that have been established. Just send your name, email address and a short paragraph introducing yourself to rebnahum@rodfeishalom.org. We will then send you a return email with instructions on how to sign into the group and begin receiving messages from all the discussion contributors. It's another way to become a part of our family and rid you of some of those isolation tendencies.
4) We had a wonderful, intimate call-in meeting last Wednesday night. Although the group was small, the sharing was deep and heartfelt. Those joining us left the meeting with a sense of gratitude, free-ness and of us being family. I have tears in my eyes while writing this part. I never felt like I had a family. Now I am first beginning to believe that we do care and are helpful to each other in the best way that we can be.
Please join us for this unique, weekly call-in meeting on Wednesday nights, from 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET, and ½ hour or so afterwards for fellowship. To join us, simply dial 218-486-1300 and enter the participant bridge code of: 933051. Please join us and share your wisdom and experience.
Hey gang, WE NEED YOUR help! From the call-in meeting moderator:
Hi All,
I hope you are all well. The phone meeting has gotten a bit thin lately, and with Tamar due for surgery March 25th and taking some time to recover, I am hoping that others will be able to call in more often. If anyone would like to speak or do a topic this week, please let me know. Please help keep this meeting going!
Ruth
Nuff Said!!
5) Our best wishes for a complete healing to Rabbi Tamar who, when not feeling well discovered she has a brain tumor – or as she told me "I found one of my loose marbles". Our hearts and prayers are with you for a full recovery.
6) Our Teffilin Facilitation Program is still on the move and, as mentioned, we now have two Donors, each with their own criteria. The combined current qualification criteria are simple: a) Fill out our Teffilin Request Form (you need to request the form from us); b) Be in recovery from Alcohol, Drugs or Sexual Addiction; c) Commit to putting on the Teffilin once a week; d) Does not currently own a pair of Teffilin; e) Have a financial need; F) Be a male*.
We have two more people that have qualified, one for February that is currently in the works and one for March that has qualified and is awaiting final approval.
* We have added a new level to our program! We forwarded an application to the Donors for their approval and it came back unapproved. When we inquired as to why, both Donors (separately, I might add) stipulated that their approval criteria was geared towards giving the Teffilin to Men. That being the case, we decided to attempt to find a Donor and expand the criteria to enable women to receive Teffilin. If anyone is interested in taking on the role of a Teffilin Sponsor and Donor and wishes to include women in their criteria list, please let us know and we will be happy to facilitate this.
If you feel you qualify, want to commit to this program (remember, honesty is a key ingredient in recovery) and you wish to apply, contact me via email at arnieg@rodfieshalom.org and I will send you the necessary paperwork to get things rolling. Once an individual qualifies and all the fine details are worked out, the Teffilin will be on their way.
These Donors' guidelines are NOT meant to exclude those in other programs or be gender specific. They ARE meant to do something positive for others and promote these Donors' particular requests.
If anyone else wishes to become a Teffilin Donator with a set of criteria of their own, please let me know. Or, if anyone wishes to start their own Good Deed Program and wish for us to facilitate it, let me know too. Let's see if we can do something here that I never even imagined or thought of – have others who are willing to be Givers, give. And have those who are not in the position to afford it, receive something to enhance both their recovery and Judaism.
Upcoming Events: Save the DATES!
a) We have reserved June 22, 2008, for our next Spiritual Day. Keynote Speaker and location to be announced.
b) September 5-7, 2008 for a Spiritual Retreat Weekend in the Northeast (tentative)
c) September 19-21 in the Midwest for a Spiritual Retreat Weekend (tentative)
d) Yearly Succah Recovery Event – October, 2008.
e) December, 2008 – Florida Spiritual Retreat Weekend (tentative)
f) January, 2009 – 8 Day Recovery Cruise!!!
DETAILS TO FOLLOW SHORTLY!!!!!
7) Spiritual Thought(s) for the Week:
a) One of our members sent me this link that I want to share with all of you. It touched me very deeply and gave me an appreciation and sense of gratitude for where I am and what my life has become. And I cried and cried when I was watching it – great stuff!
Truly inspiring video worth passing on;
http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw - with thanks to Marv H.
b) Experience (and Wisdom) is what you get when you don't get what you want – from the above video link.
c) Story of two children. One child walks into a room and sees a computer, tools, electronic equipment. He's afraid to touch the computer because he may break it. He refuses to use the electronic equipment because he may electrocute himself. Nor does he use the tools as he fears he may hurt himself.
Second child goes to a farm and sees a field that is full of horse manure. He looks for a pony.
I want to find the pony in my life. From Rabbi Tamar from a book by Rabbi Abe.
8) Recovery humor of the week: In my attempt to bring a little smile and laughter to our recovery family, I am going to continue my crusade of publishing a joke. Now, I know what is funny to one person is not to another but I am doing this all in good humor – end of story – because I think in recovery we should laugh and have a good time!!
Thanks to Recovery Humor.com
THIS IS OUR ONLY AFFORDABLE WAYS OF GETTING OUR MESSAGE OF RECOVERY OUT TO THE RECOVERY WORLD. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT: WWW.RODFEISHALOM.ORG
A few administrative notes: If you know you're moving and / or changing your email address, please let us know beforehand to ensure continued delivery of your newsletters.
In order to get the message of recovery out to as many people as possible, we will begin to start listing other recovery meetings on our website in the near future. This will be based on a mutual commitment. Just forward your information to us and we will get it listed as soon as we start the listings.
Well, that's it for this week. For more information about any of our activities or events, feel free to call me at 718-261-4049 or email me at arnieg@rodfeishalom.org. To have your name or someone else's name added to our email list, simply email me and I'll be more than happy to subscribe you. And, you can visit our website at www.rodfeishalom.org.
Have a great Day – just for today.
Arnie
