T he hardest part about treating an addict is getting him to admit he needs help.
Yisroel had just turned 32 when he breezed through Retorno’s front gate. He readily admitted to using soft drugs daily or more than daily but saw nothing wrong with the practice. Still he had no objection when his father told him to go to Retorno. In fact he was rather keen on having time off from his boring career as yet another computer programmer in a large firm.
He figured he could coast through rehab the same way he’d coasted through the Ivy League education his father had paid for. Besides what Jew didn’t deserve a vacation in the Holy Land?
A few weeks after Yisroel joined the ranks of the men’s community Mendy came along. Mendy’s primary addiction was gambling though he liked to dabble in other Internet-related activities as well. Mendy didn’t consider playing the stock market or other investments to be gambling; nor was spending his parents’ money with or without their consent considered stealing. It was only when his father threatened to cut him off financially that Mendy agreed to go in for “a bit” of rehab.
