V’AHAVTA - “YOU SHALL LOVE.”

WE LIVE IN A WORLD IN WHICH 12 ADULTS OVERDOSE EVERY SINGLE HOUR (YES, EVEN IN AND ESPECIALLY IN OUR JEWISH COMMUNITY) AND 22 TEENS EACH WEEK.

WHAT IS NARCAN?
However, we live in a time of a modern miracle - NARCAN - a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of an overdose. We know that learning an easy way to save a life is part of what it means to walk through the world lovingly.

WHY US?
Why do we talk about love when we talk about NARCAN and harm reduction training? The late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King shared his vision for the “Beloved Community.” And our own tradition instructs us: you shall love. Love G-d, love your neighbors, love the stranger among us. But Jewish tradition’s obligation to love is not about a swell of romantic feeling , nor is it a distant concept applied—rosy-eyed—to all of existence while guitar strums in the background. Love is about acts of care, empathy, kindness, and righteousness in our own families, our communities, and our neighborhoods.

SO, WHAT DO WE DO?
Our Community NARCAN Trainings are 45-minute, hands-on opportunities to learn about how substance use affects the Jewish community (spoiler: much, much more than you think it does), to become certified in the use and application of NARCAN to reverse a drug overdose, and to encounter Jewish wisdom to inspire us as harm reduction ambassadors.