The trauma caused by a rising wave of antisemitism throughout the country since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel is often intergenerational and can trigger memories of past anti-Jewish experiences, and feelings of abandonment and fear in young people.
Those traumatic effects of dealing with discrimination and hatred are having a “profound” effect on the mental health of some members of the Jewish community, including those who experienced it in the former Soviet Union, Iran or the Holocaust, or on current college or high school students dealing with fear of antisemitism and conflicting feelings about the current Israel-Hamas War.
“The many complex feelings of loneliness and betrayal since the war are challenging,” said Dr. Tara Liberman, a board member of the Association of Jewish Psychologists.
She made her remarks during a Feb. 26 virtual panel discussion co-sponsored by the association and Anti-Defamation League on the toll antisemitism is taking on the Jewish community.
Dr. Beth Rom-Rymer, founder, president and CEO of the association, said as a child growing up in the 1950s she learned the trauma of World War II “at my mother’s knee” and through documentaries about European Jewish suffering. That suffering became “ingrained into muscle memory.”
Rabbi Ron Fish, the ADL’s east division director of antisemitism advocacy and education, said confronting antisemitism is something that stretches back to the earliest waves of Jewish immigrants.
“Of course, in a larger sense we are very much aware today that in America we continue to have classical components of antisemitism,” he said, including gaslighting regarding the success of community members, Jews being viewed suspiciously and being told that Zionism runs counter to the interests of the broader society.
Fish told the story of a colleague from the former Soviet Union whose family was targeted there for being Zionists who now feels the current situation very personally.
In another instance at a college where a Shabbat table for the hostages was held, a number of students had gathered to break down the display. As they were doing so another non-Jewish student physically attacked one of them. Fish said even though the campus police quickly intervened and the university took appropriate action, it affected every student who witnessed the attack.
He said it left hundreds of students feeling vulnerable and wondering if they too could be physically assaulted and in need of support.
Dr. Cassandra Feldman, a licensed clinical psychologist, said, “I don’t think too many of us are functioning the way we did before Oct. 7,” and added she believed it would be helpful for community members to do a self-assessment and think about the emotions they are feeling and the impact things are having on them.
“There’s no normal reaction to an abnormal situation,” said Feldman, adding she has seen a broad range of reactions, including people experiencing heart palpitations, anxiety and fears “that might be shifting all the time.”
There have been many responses, said Feldman, including some leaning into a newfound connection with others in the Jewish community.
“I think we have this natural need for affiliation and community and to connect with people through cultural affiliation,” she said. “Collective strength is helpful.”
Liberman said along those lines many are creating new traditions and ways of connecting with like-minded individuals such as Shabbat dinners.
Rom-Rymer said some have experienced a disruption in their daily routines but focusing on “touchstones,” such as concentrating on normal activities, like going to the gym or going for a run before breakfast, and taking it “hour by hour and intentionally putting yourself in the situation” is helpful. However, some might find that so difficult that they may need to seek outside help.
“If you feel the need to do something, go to a counseling center or go to a rabbi or mentor,” said Rom-Rymer.
Responding to a query in the chat from someone who said their congregation is not willing to talk about antisemitism, she suggested talking to the rabbi or cantor about the situation because “talking about it directly can be very helpful.”
Fish said talking can be especially beneficial to young people who are dealing with overwhelming feelings of confusion.
“So many of them have conflicting feelings about the war in Gaza and how they feel about being part of the Jewish community,” he noted, explaining many support Israel, but are troubled by what is happening in the war and unsure how to handle others’ reaction to it.
Rom-Rymer suggested parents should listen and be supportive and empathetic to their experiences and feelings.
“What they’re experiencing on college campuses and now in high schools is not something we know about,” said Liberman. “That is their experience.”
Fish said he emphasizes to Jewish students that “they acquire the language to express what they’re feeling. There’s a certain kind of power to be able to express the pain they’re feeling.”
That will allow students who are confronted with disagreements over Israel to be able to convey to the other person that: “You see the reality of my pain” and “hope that Jewish students reciprocate when a Palestinian student says something about their own pain. It’s not a zero sum game.”
Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.
