(reprinted from Ontario Psychological Association Listserv)
Brian Levitt
This year on Yom HaShoah, I found myself reflecting on the struggles of our Jewish patients and colleagues in a world overflowing with antisemitism since the nightmarish pogrom carried out by terrorists on October 7, 2023, the largest slaughter of Jews since the Shoah (which you probably call the Holocaust). We are now seeing a surge of violent antisemitic acts carried out in many lands (including our own): temples set on fire and shot at, Jews shot and killed on an Australian beach, Jews harassed and beaten in major cities in North American and Europe, protests around the world with chants of violence (including death) towards Jews, antisemitic graffiti and posters everywhere.
Most people know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Shoah. 3 million Polish Jews were killed – 90% of the Jews in Poland. On Yom HaShoah this year, a Polish lawmaker held up an Israeli flag in parliament that replaced the star of David with a swastika – this is a blatant example of Holocaust inversion, and it occurred in Poland’s parliament on Yom HaShoah, the Memorial Day we observe for Jews who were murdered by the Nazis. Two thirds of Jews in Europe were killed, one third of the world’s Jews were killed, and there are still fewer Jews in the world today than there were before the Shoah.
In Lithuania alone, 96% of Jews were killed – this is where my family is from on both sides, and somehow, I am here to reflect on this. The industrial scale of the Shoah was so immense that a new word was coined: genocide. It is a word that is commonly misused by many today, torn from its defining context and the intention it implies – when it is used to describe Jews, it is a form of Holocaust inversion.
Holocaust inversion and antizionism have become rampant in political discourse and on social media – indeed, for many, being antizionist is now seen as somehow virtuous. So many of us who love our indigenous homeland (which makes us Zionists) now see that love and yearning for return, held for countless generations, weaponized against us. Zionism was a reaction to centuries of violence against Jews, not the cause of that violence – it is simply a desire to return to our homeland and regain our independence there after millennia of imperial conquests killing us and driving us out (yet we always remained) – it is born of an awareness that no one else will protect us, an ultimate lesson of the Shoah and history beyond the Shoah.
Both antizionism and Holocaust inversion began in the Soviet Union, which spread it through Arab and other Muslim nations and promoted it on the Left internationally. It has been powerfully reawakened for a new age of Jew hate – it is today’s most dangerous form of antisemitism. Social media is flooded with antisemitism and antizionism (which is antisemitism). Social media is driven by numbers, and Jews are only 0.2% of the world’s population – we are faced with a flood, and we only have a bucket. This is the world Jews now live in.
Many of us feel under siege, overwhelmed, shut down and silenced. I would not be surprised if yet again an anonymous colleague tries to silence me here by having my post removed for being irrelevant or political – and again I would assert that this post is not at all irrelevant to psychology, private practice, or supervision (Ed. Note: this refers to an incident that happened on the Ontario Psychological Association listserv). This post is also not political; it is educational with an intention of raising awareness in our work and collegial relationships with Jews. As psychologists, we are trained to be open to complexities such as these, to face them, and hopefully to grow so that we can help others.
As I reflect, I ask myself, what are our Jewish patients to do in the face of all of this Jew hate in our world today?
What are our Jewish colleagues, including supervisees to do?
What advice or support do we give?
How do we get past our own silence and potential ignorance to reach out and help Jews to heal and grow and thrive in our current global climate of Jew hate?
How do we begin to listen accurately and with empathy?
How do we “make space” for and support Jewish voices in a climate that silences so many of us, a climate in which we may not feel safe to speak?
How do we even recognize and acknowledge that there are Jews who may feel safer in silence when they come into our practices or meet with us in collegial settings?
These are essential questions for psychologists in any area of practice, including private practice and supervision.
For me, the answer is always education and pride. I have no illusions that I can change the opinions of so many antisemites and antizionists – historically that has always been a losing battle. Yom HaShoah reminds me that Holocaust education is not enough, and the world’s reaction to October 7 reinforces that. I have offered a number of resources here in the past. I still believe it is essential to study history and bigotry and to challenge ourselves to make sense of facts that might be counter to our beliefs and feelings. This is part of the hard work that psychologists do. I am proud of this field in part because of theis effort we make.
Questions that may be interesting to explore to educate yourself about Jews are endless. What is Tanakh, and why don’t Jews call it Old Testament? What is the Great Isaiah Scroll and why is its discovery important? What is the importance of Psalm 137? What is Talmud, and how does it reflect Jewish thinking? What is Pirke Avot (I have several copies and always have one nearby)? What does it mean to be Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Mizrahi, or Beta Israel? What is the Arch of Titus, and what does it mean that it was created? Who renamed Judea, when, what was the name changed to, why, and when was Christ alive? Who was Moses Ben Maimon? How is Jewish thinking reflected in modern physics? How is Jewish thinking reflected in psychoanalytic theory? Why are so many comedians Jews? Why do Jews ask so many questions?
I could ask questions all day and never run out of questions. I also advocate for Jewish pride as an essential way forward. As psychologists, it seems reasonable to know how to help anyone have pride in their identity and to learn to face bigotry, hate, and real threats of violence. Many of you find you already do this comfortably with queer clients (for example), and many of you recognize that you always have room for your own growth so that you can work better with people who are struggling in the face of hate that is everywhere. We can certainly offer many resources and teach ourselves to find more resources when any of our clients come to us struggling with embracing who they are and living in a world filled with hate towards them.
I close with a brief list of resources that may help you, your clients, or your colleagues:
As a Jew – Sarah Hurwitz
The Genius of Judaism – Bernard-Henri Levy
Jewish Pride – Ben M Freeman
How to Fight Antisemitism – Bari Weiss
Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege – Melanie Phillips
Dr Brian Levitt
