JACS — Free Jewish Recovery 12-Step Fellowship
JACS is a free national fellowship for Jewish people in recovery from alcoholism, addiction, and other compulsive behaviors, plus their families and loved ones. Founded in 1979, JACS is independent and peer-led, based on 12-Step principles, and welcomes Jews working any program of recovery — AA, NA, Al-Anon, OA, GA, and others — or anyone who identifies as being in recovery. JACS meetings explore the intersection of Jewish identity and recovery, drawing on Jewish values, texts, and ritual alongside the steps.
What to Expect
JACS runs peer-led meetings in cities across the United States and online. Each group sets its own format, but the topics typically center the Jewish recovery experience — observing Jewish holidays in sobriety, navigating Shabbat and family gatherings, drawing on Jewish prayer and study as part of step work, and bridging Jewish identity with the spiritual program of recovery. JACS also hosts an annual East Coast retreat where participants gather for a Shabbat of recovery — exploring Jewish texts, sharing in 12-step meetings, talking with rabbis, and building lasting recovery friendships. A volunteer-staffed Warm Line is available for Jews considering recovery or wanting to talk with another Jew in recovery.
Who This Group Is For
JACS is for Jews of any background — observance, denomination, ethnicity, or geography — in recovery from alcoholism, addiction, or other compulsive behaviors, plus the family members and significant others affected by a loved one’s addiction. Members include people newly in recovery, people decades into sobriety, and Jews who don’t connect with the broader 12-step culture and want a specifically Jewish recovery community. JACS is welcoming across denominations — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular, and unaffiliated Jews are all part of the fellowship.
Why Peer Support Works
Recovery is hard in any community, and for Jewish people there are particular layers — a culture that often centers eating and drinking, Jewish holidays organized around meals and wine, family expectations, and the historical role of Jewish community in members’ lives. Sitting with other Jews in recovery makes those layers shared rather than invisible. JACS meetings let members talk honestly about Pesach without becoming a teaching moment, about Shabbat sobriety, about navigating Yom Kippur, about rebuilding Jewish life as a person in recovery.
How to Join
JACS is free. Visit the JACS pages on the Jewish Board (jewishboard.org/how-we-can-help/jewish-community-services/jacs/) to find meetings, register for the annual retreat, contact the Warm Line, or learn about local JACS communities. Newcomers are welcomed at any open JACS meeting and don’t need to have a particular recovery program already in place.