Judaism & Step One: "The prisoner cannot free himself"

B''H

 STEP ONE:

We admitted we were powerless over our addiction— that our lives had become unmanageable.

One of the major objections I've read is that the key to the 12-steps is admitting one is powerless over his addiction. Yet Torah teaches HASHEM gave us free will, so how can we be powerless if we have free will. In fact, this is not at as problematic as it might seem. It is said "There is nothing new in Torah" and this example is a great illustration.

In the Talmud we find the following:

R. Hiyya b. Abba fell ill and R. Johanan went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward.  He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he cured him.R. Johanan once fell ill and R. Hanina went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he cured him.Why could not R. Johanan cure himself?  —The prisoner cannot free himself from prison.(Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 5b) 

The Talmudic sages had such perfect emuna (faith/trust in HASHEM) that they could perform great miracles. Clearly Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Hiyya ben-Abba were great healers, yet they could not heal themselves from illness. Addiction is a disease. As the passage describes, just as a prisoner cannot free himself from prison, a person cannot heal himself from illness. He must find a power greater than himself to be healed.

Most people have the idea that free will is that a man has the ability to do whatever he wants. That his sheer force of will should be enough to accomplish anything. Torah however has a much different different and more nuanced perspective on the actual nature of free will. We know from Chazal (our sages Z''L) that inside each person there is a an inclination to do good (yetzer hatov)  and an inclination to do bad (yetzer hara).

The common western secular way to look at free will would be that free will gives us the ability to follow either desire. However Chazal teach that both inclinations are not made equal. The yetzer hara grows stronger each day, yet the yetzer hatov must be strengthened as a muscle, by choosing to do good actions. 

The Talmud actually teaches that a person is totally powerless over the yetzer hara and that it's only through HASHEM (a power greater than ourselves) that we are able to even choose to follow the yetzer hatov:

 And R. Simeon b. Levi1 said: Man's Evil Desire gathers strength against him daily and seeks to slay him, for it is said: The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him; and were not the Holy One, blessed be He, to help him [man], he would not be able to prevail against him, for it is said: The Lord will not leave him in his hand. (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushim 30b)

Much more has been written by the Rishonim (latter sages) about the nature of free will, that is quite compatible with the 1st step however I hope this is enough to convince you the idea is not anathema to Judaism.

If you would like additional sources please leave a note in the comments