Destruction to Redemption:
Personal Stories of Addiction and Recovery

Focus of Tisha B’Av Observance Sunday, July 18 at 4:00 PM via Zoom

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MEET OUR PROGRAM PANELISTS

PROGRAM PANELISTS

Solomon Alpert grew up in the Kansas City area, and currently lives in Midtown KC with his wife, Lisa, and his two stepdaughters, Sydney and Charlotte. He attended Beth Torah synagogue for most of his childhood and became bar mitzvah there. He was involved in the Reform movement at the national level as well, participating in the Meitav youth program throughout his years in high school. He graduated from the Pembroke Hill high school in 2005, obtained his BA in 2009 at the College of William and Mary, and obtained his MA in counseling and guidance from UMKC in 2018. He also regularly consumed alcohol and drugs with fluctuating levels of severity from 2005 until he began attending AA meetings regularly in December of 2016. In his capacity as a member of the fellowship, he strives to manifest a day-to-day existence based upon the notion that “sobriety is not for those who want it, it’s not for those who need it, it’s for those who do it.” He has been assisting weekly with virtual grade schools for the past year and works installing and finishing custom wood flooring the other half of the week with his friend and fellow AA member.

Mira Cohen is a recording artist (@mirablues) and a social media branding specialist from Bethesda, MD. Mira went to university in Israel and Canada, and now lives in Atlanta, GA. She currently works for Jewish Family and Career Services of Atlanta. Mira has been in recovery since 2013, and she uses her experience with alcoholism/addiction to create art and help others in the recovery community.

Rabbi David M. Glickman, Rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom will share the story about his brother’s struggles with addiction

(206) 536-0038 |
1037 NE 65th Street, #415, Seattle, WA 98115
https://www.jaanetwork.org/

Marla Kaufman is the executive director and founder of Jewish Addiction Awareness Network (JAAN). After her own family’s decade-plus experience of navigating resources to support their son’s journey from addiction to recovery, Marla has dedicated her life’s work to silencing stigma and raising awareness. Since beginning JAAN in 2016, she has traveled to Jewish communities across the United States to share innovative programs, proven strategies, and best practices to help communities collaboratively address addiction and related mental health challenges from a Jewish perspective. In addition to supporting Jewish families in crisis and those desiring to integrate their recovery with their Judaism, Marla facilitates Jewish cultural sensitivity trainings for medical and addiction treatment professionals. She served as chair of the Orange County (CA) Jewish Community Addiction Task Force for four years and is currently a member of BaMidbar Wilderness Therapy’s board of directors. Her previous experience includes creating a comprehensive parent support program for an adolescent wilderness therapy program, working as development director for a Jewish day school, and marketing and recruiting for a financial services company. Marla has been active in the Seattle Jewish community since relocating there with her husband, Joe, in November 2019.

PROGRAM MODERATOR:

Sarah Link Ferguson is the Development Officer at First Call, a local nonprofit organization that works to reduce the impact of alcohol, drugs and addiction by providing quality resources to individuals, families and the community. She is also a member of the recovery community and has written about her experience as a Jewish person in recovery for outlets like Tablet Magazine and the Temper. She is passionate about destigmatizing issues like mental illness and substance use disorder, especially within the Jewish community. She has been married to her husband, Matt for nearly a decade and they have a two-year-old daughter named Eliana. She belongs to Congregation Kol Ami. 

Jewish Community Tisha B’AV Observances July 17 and 18th Registration Required

In observance of Tisha B’Av (the fast day that is on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av), a period of fasting, lamentation and prayer to remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem and other major disasters and tragedies that Jewish people experienced throughout history, the local Jewish community will come together to remember this dark period in our people’s history.

A community-wide observance and service will take place on Saturday, July 17 at Congregation Beth Shalom. The program will be offered virtually with limited in-person attendance. The evening begins at 9:30 p.m. with a Tisha B’Av MA’ARIV service and will be followed by a D’var Torah and reading of Eicha. Participants can choose to participate in either the Hebrew or English reading from the Book of Lamentations, which details the destruction of Jerusalem through song and poems. This is a meaningful service with beautiful, mournful melodies, some engaging teaching, and a time for communal reflection on both painful times of our past and hope for our future.

The community Tisha B’Av observance continues Sunday, July 18 beginning at 4:00 p.m. and will be held virtually via Zoom. Tisha B’Av commemorates destruction, but also bears with it the hope of redemption. We will mark the end of this somber day by hearing stories from members of our community and from outside of our local community who have suffered personally from addiction or have a loved one who has; and we will reflect on the path from addiction to recovery as a form of transition from destruction to redemption. The program is a collaborative effort of the Rabbinical Association and Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City.

Links to connect via zoom for each event will be sent a couple of days in advance.

For more information and links to registration, visit kcrabbi.org or contact Annette Fish, Rabbinical Association Administrator/Program Director, afprogram@aol.com, 913-327-8226.  Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick is the rabbinic liaison for this year’s communitywide Tisha B’Av observances. Rabbi Moshe Grussgott is the Sunday program rabbinic liaison.