Ep 86: Facing the Unfaceable: Yom HaShoah, Reparations, and Trauma-healing

As we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Jewish-community-designated Holocaust Memorial Day, we talk about balancing the incomprehensible nature of the Shoah with the need to continue to work to process and heal (comrehend?) the collective trauma of the Shoah and its intergenerational effects. What more would be possible if we were able to access capacity-expanding healing?  We also explore differences and commonalities between post-WWII German reparations and truth-telling and post-emancipation U.S. responses to the collective trauma of the centuries of forced enslavement of Black folks.

Apply to our 6-week intensive for Cultivating a Trauma-Informed Jewish Social Justice Practice here (We only have a few spots left! Applications now due Friday April 29th):  https://joyous-justice.mykajabi.com/grounded-and-growing

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner: https://joyousjustice.com/

Support the work our Jewish Black & Native woman-led vision for collective liberation here: https://joyousjustice.com/support-our-work

Read Ta Nehisi-Coates’ “The Case for Reparations”: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Learn more about Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Memorial Day: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/yom-hashoah-holocaust-memorial-day/

Find out more about Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem:  https://www.yadvashem.org/

Read more about the reparations agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany and Menachem Begin’s protest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_Agreement_between_Israel_and_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany

Watch or find more information about the show “Russian Doll” on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80211627

Discussion and reflection questions:

What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?What is resonating? What is sticking with you and why?What feels hard? What is challenging or on the edge for you?What feelings and sensations are arising and where in your body do you feel them?