Last week at BINA, Oz, a ZAKA volunteer and coordinator spoke at BINA on Shabbat afternoon. ZAKA volunteers (trained paramedics), respond to the scenes of violent attacks and homicides throughout Israel. They collect the remains of the dead, including their blood, so that they may be buried in accordance with Jewish religious law.

 

Oz touched on their experience on 7th October which took their work to another horrific level and many of them suffered trauma followed by weeks of flashbacks, fear and anxiety. He then discussed his journey towards healing, along with his volunteers, after witnessing these traumatic events.

 

One of the things they did was the following simple but powerful ritual. They gathered around a bonfire and wrote down the emotions they sought to release on pieces of paper and then proceeded to throw the papers into the fire. 

 

For Oz, the desire to let go of the pain was tempered by a conflicting sentiment – he also wanted to hold onto the memories of the people he encountered during that fateful period. He wanted to never forget the purity and Godliness of those holy souls that he attended. So, in his mind, he threw away the fear /anxiety but held on to the purity and the positive impact that the experience had on him and his colleagues. 

 

I don’t know if this is the recommended path for all trauma healing. But it does highlight an important truth: our past experiences, though sometimes painful, are also events that shape us. While we strive to release the toxicity that holds us back, we must also embrace those aspects that serve as valuable teaching moments, guiding us towards a brighter future.

When we prepare in this month of Elul for a new year, we must do the same. We should let go of all the pain and spiritual poison of the past year – all those emotions and experiences that hold us back from improving and growing in the year to come. At the same time, we shouldn’t discard the year completely. We should hold onto the lessons that our challenges and pain taught us to shape a better and stronger year ahead. 

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