Beyond Willpower: Three Israelis Share Raw Journeys of Overcoming Severe Addiction

"I promised to change, but it was stronger than me." This phrase perfectly captures one of the most agonizing moments of addiction: a person knows the heavy price they are paying, promises themselves and their loved ones that this time will be different, and yet finds themselves returning to the exact same dark place.

In a documentary series by Hidabrut Digital, Shlomo Pima, Hila Katrina Sadovnik, and Lizzy Savitsky share their deeply personal journeys into addiction, the moments they lost complete control, and the turning points that helped them rebuild their lives from scratch.

Shlomo Pima: "You Are Like a Puppet on Strings"

For Shlomo Pima, addiction threatened to completely tear his family apart. At one point, he found himself sleeping in the building's stairwell just to catch a glimpse of his children in the morning.

"I would wait until 7:30 AM, when my wife would walk out with them, just so I could run up and hug them," he recalls.

Afterward, he would return to using drugs, repeating the vicious cycle over and over again. Eventually, his family intervened. Pima promised to change and returned home. For a brief moment, it seemed possible to start anew.

"After everyone left and she fell asleep, something inside me said: 'Just one line.' And I said: 'No, no, no. I just got back home. No.'"

But the internal battle was short-lived.

"It was stronger than me. I quietly slipped out into the stairwell. I intended to do just one line and go back to sleep. I did one, and then something told me: 'Just one more.' I did another, and I disappeared from home for three days."

It was during that relapse, he says, that he understood something profound about his illness:

"The first dose is your first and last choice. Everything that happens after that has nothing to do with you. You are like a puppet on strings."

Hila Katrina Sadovnik: Food Addiction and Spiritual Awakening

For Hila Katrina Sadovnik, addiction manifested in food. Her weight peaked at 130 kilograms, and it was during her pregnancy that she realized how severely her condition threatened her life.

"I simply let food control me," Hila says.

One day, she was physically unable to get out of bed and called a doctor. According to her, he looked at her and asked how such a young woman had reached this state. At the time, her son Idan was just a baby, and that confrontation pushed her to seek a solution.

She underwent bariatric surgery, but the first procedure suffered complications, requiring the removal of the gastric band. Later, she consulted another doctor, who made it clear that surgery alone would not save her:

"He told me: 'I can perform the surgery, but that doesn't mean you will lose weight. If you don't switch something in your head, you cannot get thin.'"

She eventually managed to lose about 80 kilograms, but the emotional struggle remained. She began smoking heavily and searched for a sense of connection and meaning. Her spiritual turning point came when an acquaintance invited her to a Torah class.

"When I arrived, the speaker said: 'Those who are here tonight are the children whom the Almighty wants close to Him.' I felt he was speaking directly to me."

Lizzy Savitsky: Alcohol as a Best Friend

Lizzy Savitsky describes a life where alcohol became an inseparable part of her daily routine.

In the afternoons, she would take her daughters to a kosher restaurant, order them a meal, and order herself a glass of wine that was refilled repeatedly. After returning home, she would put her children to bed and continue drinking until she blacked out.

"Alcohol was my best friend," Lizzy says. "It was my solution, but at some point, the solution became the problem."

In 2018, she hit rock bottom. Lizzy woke up after a night of heavy drinking and using cocaine with a friend, while her children slept in the next room.

"I remembered nothing," she says. "I woke up in the morning and asked: 'Did we do drugs last night?' My kids were sleeping in the room next door. I was filled with shame. I thought: 'This is not normal. What am I doing to myself?'"

She reached out to a sober friend and asked how she knew she had a problem. The friend invited her to a 12-step meeting. Lizzy was terrified by the thought of never drinking again:

"I thought: 'How will I get through Purim? Rosh Hashanah? Passover Seder without wine?' I didn't understand back then that I only had to stay sober just for today."

Fear won, and she returned to drinking. Her addiction continued for another three years. Even during a pregnancy she viewed as a miracle after three miscarriages, thoughts of alcohol never left her:

"I calculated how long I would have to breastfeed just so I could get drunk again. It made no sense. It wasn't something I wanted, it was something I felt I needed."

Finding a Way Out

These three stories are vastly different, yet they share a common truth: addiction is not merely a bad habit that can be stopped by a momentary decision. It dominates choices, the body, family, and identity.

For these individuals, the path to recovery required admitting powerlessness, accepting help, and rebuilding their connection with themselves and their faith.

As one of them concludes:

"An addicted person, if they do not find their God, has no chance of getting out of it."