Jeffrey Bloom is a writer on issues of culture and society.
A major tenet of rabbinic Judaism is that the Bible is not to be taken literally. But of course that’s not the whole story.
The tools of religion can help; but, like the tools of science, they can also harm.
Modern medicine, psychology, and behavioral science can help some addicts. But for the underlying spiritual condition, an older set of tools—like Judaism’s—has more to offer.