By Betyna BockNora at the Fruit Shop
In Theresienstadt
you worked in the vegetable garden
and stole fruit and vegetables.
You defied death
by disregarding the rules
and hiding them in your lumber jacket
while the Czech police weren’t looking.
Now sixty years later
in your smart red blazer
and pleated floral skirt
you breeze past the sign
DO NOT TOUCH THE FRUIT.
You give the purple plums
a … Continue Reading ››
By Tatiana Kastner, MSW, RSW
“Art is a powerful tool of communication,” as C.A. Malchiodi says in her Handbook of Art Therapy (2003, p. 3). Its therapeutic benefits for the person's emotional well being have been reported for diverse populations (Canadian Art Therapy Association, 2017). The multi-faceted approach of Expressive Therapies can be very appropriate … Continue Reading ››
By Michael Andrew Eisinger, M.A., and Barbara Joyce Bedney, Ph.D., M.S.W.
The Jewish Federations of North America Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care
December 29, 2017
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2014), “individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an … Continue Reading ››
By Renée Symonds
Sir Moses Montefiore Jewish Home
(Board Member)
Co-ordinator Holocaust Awareness Program
The Sydney Jewish Museum
(Consultant Psychologist)
How does one transmit the history of the Holocaust, of the traumatic life-long effects of the Holocaust on its survivors and its child survivors and also teach of the trans-generational transmission of that trauma on the descendants of the Holocaust?
In fact, how … Continue Reading ››
By Emily Kaplan
Through the musical offerings at our monthly Café Europa social luncheon events, our Holocaust Survivor Support team quickly realized that music holds a special place in survivors’ hearts. Looking around the room when a performer plays Broadway tunes or sings Jewish music in Hebrew or Yiddish, it is easy to see the … Continue Reading ››
By Deb Kram
I’m sitting in yet another airport terminal, waiting to board my flight after presenting to and meeting with local survivors of the Holocaust. With a soft fluttering of wings, I notice a bird perched, not far, on the back of one of the … Continue Reading ››
By Irit Felsen, Ph.D.Abstract-
This paper suggests that elderly trauma survivors are at elevated risk for re-traumatization in medical and long-term care settings. Findings from recent research in neuro-affective social cognitions are integrated with data about disparities in medical healthcare and with seminal insights from social psychology. The discussion of these various findings and their implications … Continue Reading ››
After viewing a film about how the faith of Holocaust survivors kept them strong during the Shoah, I noticed very little spotlight shone on those survivors whose faith, in contrast, was shattered or conflicted.
Healing does not always mean curing. Healing a wounded soul and helping guide it through the challenges of terminal illness is a significant expression of caring. It is the implementation of Jewish values in the lives of real people at a time when they are most vulnerable. This is Jewish Hospice.
Viewing Son of Saul provided my mother and I with a unique, personalized confrontation with intimate moment-to-moment exposure to traumatic scenes on the screen, allowing us to witness the actors’ facial expressions, prosody and body gestures.
I’m sitting in yet another airport terminal, waiting to board my flight after presenting to and meeting with local survivors of the Holocaust. With a soft fluttering of wings, I notice a bird perched, not far, on the back of one of the … Continue Reading ›› 
