Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma: New Preface by Author, New Foreword by Gabor Maté, Reading Group and Study Guide

es aplicable al trauma en forma generalizable

Reading Rabbi Tirzah's book, I realized, here is someone who grew up on the other side of the world, who had the same experiences as me growing up in the post-Holocaust community in Amsterdam! It made me validate my own stories and experiences in a whole new way: "I'm not crazy! I'm not making this up! This was real! Someone who was/is as sensitive as me actually felt the very same thing, all this agony that couldn't be expressed but was absorbed in every cell of our bodies." Tirzah's book is one of the most profound, insightful and deeply compassionate books I have ever read on this topic. It was a total eye opener and moved me to tears throughout.

So glad to see these matters being brought out in the open...and Rabbi Firestone writes with great clarity and sensitivity. Even though it is largely about the post WW II American and Israeli Jewish experience, Wounds Into Wisdom is written in such a way that the basic tenets, and especially the seven healing modalities offered in the second half of the book, have universal application. Thank you Rabbi Firestone, for providing us all with clear pathways out of trauma.

This is a very relevant and important book on intergenerational trauma, and it is well resourced. I had only one problem with the book, which has lead to an internal debate as to whether I will use it as a reference in the bibiliography of a course I teach. Being very familiar with the groups and issues she raises (in Israel), although at most times she is very tuned into societal resources, with specific progressive groups she seems to be out of touch with the societal nuance and the sometimes inappropriate political use being made of personal experience. I would have rather seen her explore how personal trauma can inform political action that at times can in itself be lacking in nuance, than using these examples of effective ways of dealing with trauma. This concern is a very small part of the book, and overall it is well-written and knowledgeable.

I'm reading this book for the second time; the new forward by Gabor Mate makes it worth buying this new edition even if you have the old one. I can't say enough good things about this book. While the topic is obviously as heavy as it gets, Dr. Tirzah somehow manages to make it much easier to digest than you would think it would be. I guess that's what makes it such good medicine. ;) If it fits your experience, as it does mine (many of my family members were decimated in the Holocaust, with many others deeply affected by those indelible losses), then her clarity will become your clarity. Besides being clear, though, Dr. Tirzah's writing also has a beautifully poetic quality to it. Like the balanced weaving of masculine and feminine, or a truly functional piece of art, this seems very difficult to pull off! Personally, I find Dr. Tirzah and others like her to be deeply inspirational. To weave something beautiful and connective out of shards of loss and horror is a gift. I'm so grateful Dr. Tirzah has that gift and is sharing it with us.