maps • volume xv number 2 • Summer 2005
Jews and Drugs: A Book in Progress

By Daniel Sieradski
Jews & Drugs (working title), which I have spent nearly five years researching and writing, explores the ancient relationship between the Jewish people and drug use, from the shamanic rites of the ancient Hebrews through the Israeli rave scene and beyond. The book seeks to communicate a cohesive understanding of the place of entheogens in Judaism and early Christianity, culminating in a proposal for the reintegration of entheogenic explorations into Jewish ritual practice for the modern era.

The book features interviews with noted Jewish scholars and scientists involved in the areas of radical Jewish thought, psychedelic research, and drug policy reform. These include Douglas Rushkoff, R.U. Sirius, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Ethan Nadelmann, Rick Doblin, Mickey Hart, Ram Dass, and Reb Zalman Shachter-Shalomi. I explore a myriad of issues, including allusions to entheogenic substances in the Torah, psychedelic tales of Hasidic Judaism's founder, the Ba'al Shem Tov, Jewish participation in American counterculture, drug abuse in Brooklyn's Hasidic community, psychedelic use among religious settlers living in the Occupied Territories, and the Israeli ecstasy trade.

Jews & Drugs attempts to clearly delineate between acceptable religious exploration and drug abuse, relying upon rabbinic commentary and modern psychological research. The hope is to provide a counterpoint to the dominance of "zero tolerance" drug policy and the perpetuation of misinformation in the religious community by demonstrating the value of entheogens and the influence they have had on Judeo-Christian thought and practices. I hope to complete the book by 2006. I invite anyone who has material to share relevant to these subjects to contact me via my website, OrthodoxAnarchist.com.

Daniel Sieradski is the founding editor of the popular Jewish weblog Jewschool.com. He currently lives in Jerusalem where he studies in yeshiva exploring Jewish texts and historical materials. He joined MAPS on our tour of Israel in March 2005.

Summer 2009 Vol. 19, No. 2 MAPS Research Update 2009
Spring 2009 Vol. 19, No. 1 Special Edition: Psychedelics and Ecology
Winter 2008/09 Vol. 18, No. 3 MAPS 2008 Financial Report
Summer 2008 Vol. 18, No. 2 Phoenix Rising: A Review of MAPS Research
Spring 2008 Vol. 18, No. 1 Special Edition: Technology and Psychedelics
Winter 2007 Vol. 17, No. 3 MAPS 06-07 Fiscal Yearly Report
Autumn 2007 Vol. 17, No. 2 Special Edition: Psychedelics and Self-Discovery
Spring/Summer 2007 Vol. 17, No. 1 The Chrysalis Stage
Winter 2006-7 Vol. 16, No. 3 Low Maintenance/High Performance
Autumn 2006 Vol. 16, No. 2 Technologies of Healing
Spring 2006 Vol. 16, No. 1 MAPS' 20th Anniversary
Winter 2005 Vol. 15, No. 3 MAPS final year as a teenager
Summer 2005 Vol. 15, No. 2 Israel Conference: MDMA/PTSD Research
Spring 2005 Vol. 15, No. 1 Accelerating flow of work and time
Autumn 2004 Vol. 14, No. 2 Rites of Passage: Kids and Psychedelics
Summer 2004 Vol. 14, No. 1 10 stamps and $250,000
Winter 2003 Vol. 13, No. 2 Holy Fire
Spring 2003 Vol. 13, No. 1 60th Anniversary of the Discovery of LSD
Autumn 2002 Vol. 12, No. 3 Vision
Summer 2002 Vol. 12, No. 2 "From celebration to frustration, and back again."
Spring 2002 Vol. 12, No. 1 Sex, Spirit & Psychedelics 2002
Autumn 2001 Vol. 11, No. 2 "In the future, it will be called Despair."
Spring 2001 Vol. 11, No. 1 "A Tidal Wave of Ecstasy!"
Autumn 2000 Vol. 10, No. 3 Creativity 2000
Summer 2000 Vol. 10, No. 2 Endings and Beginnings
Spring 2000 Vol. 10, No. 1 Making History in Slow Motion
Winter 1999/00 Vol. 9, No. 4 To the Ends of the Earth for MDMA Research...
Autumn 1999 Vol. 9, No. 3 MAPS' long-standing efforts to conduct...
Summer 1999 Vol. 9, No. 2 MAPS has come full circle...
Spring 1999 Vol. 9, No. 1 Patience, persistence and passion
Winter 1998/99 Vol. 8, No. 4 One of special pleasures of directing MAPS...
Autumn 1998 Vol. 8, No. 3 The Ayahuasca Issue (with Hofmann interview)
Summer 1998 Vol. 8, No. 2 Emotionally Powerful Anecdotes...
Spring 1998 Vol. 8, No. 1 Death Has a Way of Focusing One's Attention
Autumn 1997 Vol. 7, No. 4 Celebration is in Order
Summer 1997 Vol. 7, No. 3 Time Horizons
Spring 1997 Vol. 7, No. 2 Synchronicity
Winter 1996/97 Vol. 7, No. 1 Learning to Crawl
Autumn 1996 Vol. 6, No. 4 An Invitation for Dialogue
Summer 1996 Vol. 6, No. 3 Budding Research
New Year 1996 Vol. 6, No. 2 Sending Down Roots
Autumn 1995 Vol. 6, No. 1 Baby Steps
Summer 1995 Vol. 5, No. 4 Opportunity Amidst Obstacles
Winter 1994/95 Vol. 5, No. 3 Clinical Trials and Tribulations
Autumn 1994 Vol. 5, No. 2 Building Towards Clinical Trials
Summer 1994 Vol. 5, No. 1 Politics and Protocols: In Search of a Balance
Spring 1994 Vol. 4, No. 4 Laying the Groundwork
Winter 1993/94 Vol. 4, No. 3 A Time of Tests
Summer 1993 Vol. 4, No. 2 So Close Yet So Far
Spring 1993 Vol. 4, No. 1 Remembrance and Renewal
Winter 1992/93 Vol. 3, No. 4 Forging New Alliances
Summer 1992 Vol. 3, No. 3 Building on Common Ground
Spring 1992 Vol. 3, No. 2 Small Steps, Gradual Progress, New Opportunities
Winter 1991/92 Vol. 3, No. 1 The Rekindling of a Thousand Points of Light
Summer 1991 Vol. 2, No. 2 MDMA protocol development with cancer patients
Winter 1990/91 Vol. 2, No. 1 MAPS' Swiss pharmacologically-assisted psychotherapy conference
Autumn 1990 Vol. 1, No. 3 What and Who is MAPS?
Summer 1989 Vol. 1, No. 2 Switzerland Leads the Way
Summer 1988 Vol. 1, No. 1 MDMA can become a legal medicine