Wounds into Wisdom

April 1, 2019

The theory of intergenerational trauma posits that psychological legacies of horror, suffering, and loss can be unconsciously transmitted among generations of family. While the children and grandchildren may not have a direct experience of the initial ordeal, its effects can continue to impact their lives significantly; so much so that they carry the burden of an unnamed survivor's guilt. The mentality of "never forget" morphs into a place of keeping the trauma alive. Rabbi and psychotherapist Firestone considers the suffering experienced by an entire ethnic group: specifically, Jews in the aftermath of the Holocaust as well as Jews caught in the violence of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Of her own life, the author remarks, ."..I comprehended just how a family's ancestral trauma rumbles through history like a train, depositing its load, car after car, into our newborn skin." In her experience, silence becomes weaponized, freezing spouses, children, and grandchildren in time, without redemption. Culling together a multiplicity of narratives, Firestone offers seven principles focused on facing and transforming family grief into a coherent, powerful sense of agency. VERDICT Combining religion and self-help, these timely reflections make for comforting reading.--Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic Seminary Lib., Pittsburgh

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