Alcohol Abuse By Haredi Teens Reportedly Widespread, Rises To Dangerous Level

"…[T]here are hundreds of young men getting seriously drunk to the point where they need medical attention. There are Hatzolah calls, hospital visits, and thousands of incidents of vomiting. There are home break-ins in which the drunken to Lot-level-shikrus Yeshiva student needs a bed to stay. There are DUI and there are arrests. There was even a case of a life-threatening stabbing, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery – a stabbing from unzer to unzer. And thousands of mothers are worried sick…"

Above: A file photo of a haredi man passed out on a Mea Shearim, Jerusalem street on Purim 2011

Rabbi Yair Hoffman writes on Yeshiva World:

…Now let’s go to Purim and our Yeshivos. Our Yeshivos do a fine job in educating our children in Gemorah. But there is also a secret that we are keeping – one that many of us don’t wish to talk about. The “secret” is an accident waiting to happen.

The secret is that there are high school aged students who dorm away from home in yeshivas. On Purim, many of these students go collecting for various institutions and or Tzedakos. They tell their parents that they are going to Person X or community Y.

“Don’t worry, Ma, I am going with responsible people.. One of them is Gadol B’s grandson! Everything will be fine.”

They go. They drink. They are given more alcohol by well-meaning Baal HaBattim distributing Tzedakah to those who knock at their door. The reluctant host parents are unaware, in fact, that they are the host parents. The parent is assuming that there is a host parent. The Yeshiva takes no responsibility for anything.

There is drinking, more drinking, and running around to find a fun “Matzav” as the term goes. The period can last anywhere from after the first Megillah reading on the night of Purim – all the way to the day of Shushan Purim – 36 hours in total.

Boruch Hashem, some Yeshivos have actually hired bouncers to take control of the alcohol consumption. They keep out strangers who have imbibed too much. But this is a rarity.

The situation is such that there are people asleep in a drunken stupor at homes where the mothers do not even know the identity of the kid in the drunken stupor.

Indeed, recently, one reluctant host parent who did not even wish to be a host parents asked another reluctant host parent to take and email a photo of the kid in the drunken stupor to make sure that that kid is not the kid that they were looking for.

One responsible ninth grader told his parents that there were meat balls in front of the house. He then commented and inquired, “First I thought it was vomit, but then I saw that it was meatballs. Is it even possible for a person to actually throw up whole meatballs?”

In the meantime, there are hundreds of young men getting seriously drunk to the point where they need medical attention. There are Hatzolah calls, hospital visits, and thousands of incidents of vomiting. There are home break-ins in which the drunken to Lot-level-shikrus Yeshiva student needs a bed to stay. There are DUI and there are arrests. There was even a case of a life-threatening stabbing, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery – a stabbing from unzer to unzer. And thousands of mothers are worried sick if they are aware of what is happening, and if not – they are oblivious.

All this information is suppressed. The Yeshivos suppress because if people knew the extent of what has or can transpire they would neither send any child to that Yeshiva nor support it. And the parents suppress because of Shidduchim.

There are systemic problems in the Dorm Yeshiva Purim scene and it is an accident waiting to happen. Wait one second – that is inaccurate. The accidents are happening and they are happening all the time.

A protocol needs to be developed where these systemic issues are addressed. Signing Kol Korehs and taking out ads in Jewish newspapers is not enough. It is a mere platitude – lip serviceto a deeply rooted problem, that not only endangers our children but is a huge cause of national Chilul Shaim Shamayim.

The protocol should address and delineate the Yeshiva’s responsibilities, the parents’ responsibilities, the Tzedakos’ responsibilities, the responsibilities of the Tzeddakah homes they visit, the host parent responsibilities (reluctant though they may be), and the friends’ responsibilities.

Those in the know realize quite well that the problem here is not being overstated in the slightest. Women in our community dread Shushan Purim because of the volume of vomit cleaning that they must perform. There is a reason why every Hatzolah is spending much needed money in the newspapers.

My personal thinking is that the collecting should be stopped. It is a recipe for disaster. The providing of alcohol to young men collecting should also be stopped – aside from the fact that it is illegal. Both the parents and the Yeshivos should work together to ensure that the whereabouts of each child is known at all times – hour by hour.
Are we mad? Why are we accepting of this reality – a situation of sheer and utter lunacy? The dangers are far greater now than ever before.

Why do we need a death or a tragedy to spur us into action?…

Comments

[bubby]

This extreme drinking all started from bochurim on yeshiva on friday nights. Its the same push under the rug mentality. The boys hop from one shalom zochor to the next and booze up. And then come back to the dorm and have beer parties till the wee hours of the morning. Just about every rosh yeshova knows about this alcahol problem but they dont do much about it. On top of that most dorms dont have a curfew.and those who do dont have supervision on friday nights.

[Max Ponzi (the one from Cedarhurst)]

The bigger tragedy here is the good Rabbi's denial that this is a Purim only problem.

[jancsibacsi]

Theese hassidim are drunk without even drinking ,imagine what happens after they drink tottal imbibement.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Chabad keeps pushing "mashka" on everyone.

[Josh]

Its not just chasidim although the farbrengen thing makes booze more easily accessible and socially acceptable.

Bottom line is that its a lifestyle that is boring and unimaginably repressive dictating every facet of your life down to your very thoughts.

Its hardly surprising that people would seek an escape mechanism from living in a psychological North Korea.

[Turd Degree]

I think Rabbi Hoffman is really overreacting to what is a relatively minor issue, and should be grateful for the fact that the yeshiva students aren't chas v'chalilah wearing colored shirts.

[Ezra]

I know its true that yeshiva bochurim are drinking more than ever. Look, when I was in yeshiva, I drank. That mean we bought a bottle of Jack on Friday night and drank it among three or four guys.

My nephew told me that his roommate has bottles of vodka stored in the freezer in his dorm. Three or four bottles, and the bochurim drink them every night. The Rosh Yeshiva caught them wildly drunk, but they still drink bottles of vodka every night. That wasn't the case ten years ago.

[Yochanan Lavie]

TD: colored shirts lead to mixed dancing.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

If they didn't drink, they'd realize they were horny.

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

If I realized that the rest of my life meant living in a repressive theocracy....I'd be drinking too.

This is a surprise to any rational/thinking person?

[Turd Degree]

"TD: colored shirts lead to mixed dancing."

Yet Hoffman would lead you to believe that mixed drinks are worse than mixed dancing.

[Gay Frum Jew]

Old news. Puddles of vomit on many corners in CH every Shabbos.

[tucsonjew]

Allow me to apologize for making light of the alcohol problem. Drunk and passed boys,and men on the sidewalk is pitiful. Like every other thing,rabbis ignore it.

[m]

what else can haredi teens can do ? they have no
interest in life . and they have more problems
than the secular teens , pressure , stress from their household , too many ppl in the house in a restricted space , sharing their bedroom with 5 other siblings .... all that brings a lot stress
that leads to drinking to relax and forget .

[Jeff]

I don't blame them, although I understand it's a growing problem. What I can't stand is when shluchim lure in secular kids with lots of free liquor and take advantage of the opportunity to proselytize. It isn't enough you fuck up your own kids, you have to ruin the lives of everyone else's?

[Chafraud-Depravitch]

Gay Frum Jew,

"Old news. Puddles of vomit on many corners in CH every Shabbos."
---
Apparently you don't know that those puddles are holy because they come out of the mouths that speak words of Chasidus. If you look very carefully, sometimes you can even see the image of the RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™ right there on the sidewalk!

And that's real! Not like some Virgin Whatshername in a grilled cheese sandwich.

[Abracadabra]

CD - Lol! What ever happened to that grilled cheese sandwich that some company bought for thousands of dollars? It's gotta be moldy by now!

Everyone knows that the image of the RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™ is visible every daled amos (4 cubits) in Crown Heights, because without it, the borough of Brooklyn would cease to exist and New York State would be swallowed up by the ocean. The image of the RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™ is what sustains New York City and New York State. All Chabad houses around the world make sure the image of the RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™ is adequately projected worldwide in order to keep the Earth from simply disintegrating when the sun goes behind the firmament at night.

[Chafraud-Depravitch]

Abracadabra,

That sandwich was pure idolatry. And the goy who bought it was unskilled in the proper use of mashka, and other preservatives.
So unlike the RebbeHaMelechHaMoshiach™, it has surely decomposed.

[Michael from Lakewood]

"If I realized that the rest of my life meant living in a repressive theocracy....I'd be drinking too.

.....

Posted by: Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law | March 08, 2015 at 03:26 PM"

The comment of 2015, so far.

[Gay Frum Jew]

@C-D
Perhaps I can market that vomited slop, corner Union and Albany. It had bits of chulent and sponge cake. I saw it on Shabbos Acharei Mos...how bashert!

[lematameasara]

Abra
From the few instances that I agree with you.

[father of a victim]

I promised,(another Aussie)) I will stop to comment to much over here,,but I must say, and
I am talking in the name of lots of (therapist s)) every single Jewish community,,Jewish chasidus,,has drinking problems,yes but the biggest,,alcohol problems are in ((chabad,770)) crown heights,,I am absolutely not here to bash anyone,or any chasidus,,but I am here to wake up the tzibur,klal yisroel, let's not deny our problems,let's live in reality, we have lots of problems,,and let's get help for our problems,,by denying our problems we are absolutely not helping our selves,,we are destroying our selves,,our marriages our children,,we are so afraid of living with reality,,when somebody has a problem,,admit it, say yes I know I have this and this problem and I am ready to acknowledge that and I am willing to go for help,,only whit this way a person with be able to help his own self,,by not living in denial,,the biggest problem what us (( klal yisroel)) had was denying every thing,,instead of helping to solve the problems,,instead of helping to solve the problems we covered up the problems and all the biggest problems became bigger and bigger and certain problems became an epidemic,,every single person should admit to his problems and should try to go for help,,and there is help out there hundred percent,,every body could get helped even for his drinking problems,,better than to destroy your life your marriage,,your children,,please let's not live in denial,,

[father of a victim]

To all of you if you have a drinking problem help your self, go for help, it can not hurt just the opposite, you would thank me one day for that ,,you would be much more happy in your life,,your wife will be much much happier that her husband became sober of drinking,,your children would be much more happy with their father,,so why not help yourself?? Stop drinking today,,start your new life today,,by going for help,,please do it for your sake,,for your wife and children's sake,,don't let alcohol destroy your entire life,??

[Abracadabra]

CD - LOL!!!