Substance Use Disorders in the Orthodox Jewish Community: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Substance use disorders (SUDs) represent a growing public health concern, yet research on these conditions within religious and culturally insular populations remains limited. The Orthodox Jewish community offers a distinctive context for examining how religious norms, stigma, and communal structures influence substance use and recovery. This scoping review synthesizes existing empirical literature on SUDs in Orthodox Jewish populations to identify key findings, methodological patterns, and research gaps. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, PubMed was searched using the MeSH terms (“Jews*” OR “Judaism*”) AND (“Alcoholism*” OR “Substance-Related Disorders*”). A total of 130 studies were screened, and 11 met inclusion criteria, from across USA, Israel, and the UK. This study found that most studies ( N = 6) were qualitative, with small samples and limited generalizability. Quantitative research was scarce and rarely distinguished among Orthodox subgroups. Early research focused more on alcohol use; more recent work examined illicit drugs and treatment barriers. Thus, this study concludes that empirical research on SUDs within Orthodox Jewish populations remains sparse. Findings underscore the need for quantitative, culturally sensitive studies and interventions that account for the complex interplay between faith, stigma, and help-seeking.