Hi there, dearest friends!
As there has been an awakening of sorts in the area of getting the knowledge of the resources available known to the public, there were certain ideas discussed offline, and I'd like to bring them up here for the oilam to brainstorm
I hinted somewhere about a radical idea. Here it is, perhaps with it's reincarnation.
But before we go there, I'd like to get to the background
Dearest friends, we have all suffered at a certain time in our life, maybe for years. Suffering. Struggling. Alone. Am I normal? Will I ever stop this? We've all been there. And then, G-d, in His infinite mercy, led us to GYE. And we have found help, hope and healing. We are BH going days, weeks, months, maybe even years of cleanliness. Of sobriety.
But dearest friends, so many people out there are suffering, and they haven't a clue what to do! They don't know that there are resources! That they don't have to be alone!
Now, if you came here, if you were helped here, and Hashem gives you the ability to help others, you must give back what you were given. We must do what we can to help spread the knowledge of this resouce.
So, what
CAN we do?
After reading proudyungerman's letter, there was a thought that many of us had. We have to let the rebbeim, Rosh yeshivas, rabbanim know about this fantastic resource! This way, when people come to them for help, they can send them to a place that works
So, it was suggested that we have a group of people who were helped here get together and go down to a rav or two that are in the position that their influence is felt across a broad swath of klal Yisroel, and the effect of these people telling him, "we were helped at GYE. It works! Please share this with rabbanim, RYs, rebbeim, lay leaders, get the word out there!" would hopefully hammer home our message, and he would share that with people who come to him
I know it sounds radical to some. We actually got a whole group maskim to do it.
L'ma'ase, without going into the reasons in public, it doesn't seem like the way to go.
So, instead, here's
proposal number 1 for now.
Please, if you can choose a rav or rosh yeshiva, maybe one that doesn't know you very well, maybe one that knows you very little, and tell him what GYE did for you! I know, it sounds a little nuts, but dearest friends, how else will they know???? From where will they hear what GYE does? How powerful is the effect of a person coming in and saying "This helped ME!!!!". And do this once every 30 days.
It is up to
us to spread the message! We can't shirk away from our responsibility. If you mamash can't, I understand. But think about it. Maybe you could? Maybe if there's a visiting rav or rosh yeshiva you can share it with him? Maybe when you're in a different city than the one you live in you can go to a rav, rosh Yeshiva, etc. and share? Maybe you can find another friend, and the two of you go together? As I wrote, I did this with rabbi Wachsman. The effect was tremendous. I hope he'll share the resource now. And each of us has to find rabbanim or rebbeim that we can share with, so they will know that there is hope and help.
Please rabbosai, share your thoughts.
And then go find someone to share this with...
Dear friends, I still stand by every word. As I wrote on the proposal number 2 thread, we have been to several rabbanim, the ones who deal with these things. And we have discovered that they knew very little about this resource. I am C"V not badmouthing anyone! How should they know?! THey usually deal with the people who've devolved into public, ugly stories, not the average good guy who's still hiding. And these rabbanim have not been through the cesspool that we swam through. These wonderful, dedicated rabbanim just had no clue how to help the average, struggling guy.
Which reinforces our duty.
Dear friends, I'm sorry. But there's nobody that can let the rabbanim know about the problem, and more importantly, the solutions, except for you. Klal Yisroel awaits us!!! Thousands upon thousands of Yidden, crying themselves to sleep, wondering if next time they'll get caught, if they'll ever stop these things, are waiting for us to be their voice. They have no idea that they could be helped! You could be the voice that gets them the help.