Navigating Trauma: Israel's Collective Healing After October 7

The article explores the profound impact of the October 7th attacks on Israeli society, reframing the Jewish holidays of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah as metaphors for collective healing. Traditionally, Shmini Atzeret signifies a time to pause and remain, while Simchat Torah marks the completion and restart of the Torah reading cycle with dancing. Post-October 7th, these holidays are reinterpreted to represent a necessary process of confronting irreparable trauma before moving forward.

The author draws on Jewish tradition and theological interpretations to suggest that healing requires first acknowledging and sitting with the pain, rather than immediately seeking solutions or meaning. A midrashic interpretation posits that God was "in the fire" on October 7th, suffering alongside the victims, emphasizing presence over rescue. This concept is further illustrated by Elie Wiesel's description of God being "hanged on the gallows" with a boy in a concentration camp, suggesting divine presence within suffering.

For individuals and society, the trauma of October 7th has created a collective wound. The article argues that true collective healing cannot be achieved by simply returning to routine. Instead, it involves acknowledging the event's lasting impact, carrying the brokenness together, and refusing to abandon one another. This process is likened to holding both the intact and broken tablets of the Ten Commandments, symbolizing the integration of past and present.

Art is presented as a crucial tool for processing this collective trauma. Works like Ariane Littman's "Shivah Bowl" and "Fields in Red," and Adi Dremer's "Fingerprint of Terror," are cited as examples of art that confronts the pain without attempting to beautify or resolve it. These artistic expressions embody the idea of tending to wounds rather than erasing them, and of staying with the difficult reality, message by message, word by word.

The article concludes that collective healing is not about returning to a pre-October 7th state but about learning to live with what has been broken, carrying it together, and continuing to move forward. This involves creating communities that can hold space for grief and trauma, even during celebratory times, and transforming memory into action, acknowledging that while the pain may not end, it does not have the final word.