Rabbi Mark Borovitz has faced his own journey dealing with addiction, and it was his faith that guided him through it to come out stronger on the other side. Now he travels the country letting others who are dealing with these issues know that things can get better. On April 13 he will be in Kansas City as the keynote speaker at First Call’s Annual Community Gratitude Luncheon. The luncheon is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Rabbi Borovitz, who lives in Los Angeles, attends 10 to 15 such events a year, and says he is always grateful for the opportunity.
“I want to present a message of hope. It really is a blessing to be able to share that with people,” Rabbi Borovitz said. “Addiction is a disease that robs us of hope.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}I begin by speaking about individual faith, because that truly does set us free. We can start to get better when we allow true faith to happen.”
First Call, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence founded in 1958, provides prevention and recovery services to over 20,000 individuals annually. The organization works to build capacity among community substance abuse, health care, behavioral health and supportive service providers.
“First Call is the call from God, the call to surrender,” Rabbi Borovitz said. “And surrendering is not giving up. It is humbling submitting to a higher truth. It is redemption and that is my definition of recovery.”
“What are we recovering? We are recovering truth. My deep belief is that we are recovering our souls.”
In his teens when his father died, Rabbi Borovitz needed to help support his mother and sister.
When a friend with ties to the local mob gave him stolen goods to sell on consignment, it wasn’t long before Rabbi Borovitz was hooked on crime. He worked as a thief, gambler, gangster and con man. He also became an alcoholic. In jail, Rabbi Borovitz reconnected with his spirituality and began to study to become a rabbi.
“To be honest, faith is the only thing that saved me,” Rabbi Borovitz said. “Without a return to Judaism I would still be lost. Judaism is the original big book on how to live life.”
Officially ordained 10 years ago at the University of Judaism with a master’s in rabbinic literature, Rabbi Borovitz is the COO and head rabbi of Beit T’Shuvah: The House of Return, a residential treatment center in Los Angeles that combines spiritual and psychotherapeutic approaches to addiction recovery.
Rabbi Borovitz has actually been working for Beit T’Shuvah for over 26 years. His autobiography, “The Holy Thief,” co-written with Alan Eisenstock, was released in 2004. Television director and producer Jack Bender (“Lost,” “Alcatraz”) has purchased the movie rights.
Rabbi Borovitz believes his message is not just for those in the Jewish community, but anyone suffering from addiction or who has lost hope.
“I stay very involved in helping the greater community,” he said. “We all have to find ways to live together and to teach each other. And when our work is helping, we make sure to follow up with everyone.”
First Call’s Annual Community Gratitude Luncheon celebrates those who work to reduce the stigma often associated with substance use disorders by recognizing people who have developed new, research-based treatment strategies; volunteered their time; donated their dollars and advocated for public policy changes.
“Because we are frequently confronted with individuals and families at their lowest moment in the process of this disease, working in this field can be challenging,” said First Call’s President and CEO Molly O’Neill. “We created this event so that we could all take a step back together and celebrate the progress and the victories. These honorees have truly earned a moment of reflection on the great work they do.”
Besides being the keynote speaker, Rabbi Borovitz is being honored in the Public Service category. Other 2015 honorees include:
• Lifetime Achievement: Judge Joseph Locascio, Kansas City Municipal Court, Judicial Circuit 16, Kansas City, Missouri
• Philanthropist of the Year: VML
• Professional of the Year: Molly Merrigan, Family Drug Court Commissioner, 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri
• Volunteer of the Year: Elizabeth Henry
Rabbi Borovitz says his message is not just hope in the abstract. There are real actions he says that must be taken to make the world a better place. One of his students led a group of tomato farmers in south Florida in an effort to get paid a penny more for a pound of tomatoes. They were successful and just recently Wal-Mart was the latest large corporation to agree to the new deal.
“One person’s recovery helped thousands of people that were disenfranchised,” Rabbi Borovitz said. “We can change the world by being real and humble and committed. Miracles do happen every day.”{/mprestriction}