Jewish Junkies: Gateways Beit T'Shuvah, a Recovery Program for Those of the Jewish Faith

Robert Gilson is a Jewish junkie and every day, he says, "the monkey starts talking." The monkey he speaks of is a 20-year drug addiction that almost killed him. The monkey is a crushed leg following a cocaine-fueled dash across a Los Angeles freeway. The monkey is back alley scores and months of living in his car.

At 41, Gilson is four years sober. He learned to take control of his life at Gateways Beit T'Shuvah, a Jewish-faith based rehabilitation program and synagogue in Los Angeles. It means in Hebrew the "House of Return." Harriet Rosette founded the program in 1986 while working as a social worker for a Jewish social services agency. She earned the name the "Jewish Jail Lady" because she worked with Jewish ex-cons and addicts behind bars. However, she became frustrated with the repeated relapses of those she counseled and the lack of services available to help them once they left jail.

Beit T'Shuvah claims to be the only recovery program nationwide that integrates the teachings of the Torah with the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Under Spiritual Director Rabbi Mark Borovitz, residents receive individual, group and family psychotherapy, daily 12-step meetings and studies of the Torah and Jewish ethics. Residents apply the teachings of the Torah to their own struggles with drugs, alcohol, sex and gambling addictions.

"We deal with lost souls," Borovitz says. "Addiction is a malady of the body and a malady of the mind and the soul."
The program attracts people from all over the country and one does not have to be Jewish to attend. The average stay is anywhere from six months to two years. The standard stay in most rehabilitation programs ranges from 28 days. Borovitz claims a 70 percent sobriety rate among the residents after five years. Alcoholics Anonymous reports a 14 percent rate within a five-to 10-years span, according to its 2004 membership survey.

"When someone does not succeed, I cry," Borovitz says. "I know the world is less...I hate to see it."