Hanukkah and the Miracles of Recovery

FESTIVAL OF LIGHT –

2024 – As the Jewish people commemorate the miraculous victory of the poorly armed Maccabee army, we as therapists are acutely aware of a different uphill battle being fought daily – recovery from addiction – and the modern-day miracles being uncovered throughout the process.

Those in recovery, like the Maccabees, often feel they are up against a fearsome battle: “The progression of recovery is a continuous uphill journey” (Narcotics Anonymous).

As the staggeringly high relapse rate attests to, the odds are stacked against these soldiers who are up against an “army” that is large, fierce, and heavily armed. Unprocessed traumas and/or mental health challenges, difficult life circumstances, deep sense of loneliness and utter hopelessness, the brutal physical cycle of addiction and craving, and the list goes on.

According to natural law, the small band of Maccabees should not have defeated the enemy army. Yet their fierce will and dedication, coupled with Divine assistance, carried them into victory against enormous opposition. As expressed in the central Hanukkah prayer of Al Hanisim: “[God], in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few.”