Stop Asking When It's Time To Leave
Last month, I wrote about how Canadian Jews are looking at Plan B, ie., is it time to leave Canada. I noted that a few prominent Canadian Jews have left and people are asking when is it time.
I’ve given this a lot of thought.
When I was interviewing descendants of Holocaust survivors for a future book, I would ask if the participants had experienced any antisemitism growing up. I expected people to rant about vile racist acts. But that’s not what happened. Most people told me that they had not experienced any antisemitism. This included Jews who lived in communities that were largely not Jewish.
Post war survivors quickly assimilated into life in Canada and the United States free from the hate that had spread across Europe. They enjoyed freedom, acceptance, and prosperity without losing their ethnic identity – something that was difficult to achieve in Europe. Jews are disproportionally represented in business, academia, and politics.
It has been referred to as the Golden Age for Jews in North America. While antisemitism existed, it rarely came to the surface. So, it should come as no surprise that those I interviewed stated that they were never exposed to antisemitism. That all changed after October 7. The next day there was an explosion of hate towards Jews that has not subsided. We are now in what I refer to as a Post-Holocaust Era where empathy for Holocaust survivors and descendants has disappeared. We are now seeing traumatic invalidation where traumatic pain experienced by Jews since October 7 has been dismissed or minimized. The October 7 attack traumatized many in the Jewish community, but the silence, blaming, ignoring, and denial has further traumatized the community. Trauma invalidation has been defined as extreme or repetitive invalidation of individuals’ significant private experience, characteristics identify an important aspect of themselves, or reactions to themselves or to the world.
Invalidation includes behaviors including emotional neglect (your suffering doesn’t matter), criticism (Jews are baby killers), unequal treatment (the need for security for synagogues and Jewish schools), excluding (Zionist not welcome), blaming (being held responsible for actions of Israeli Government), and controlling (you should hide your Jewish identity). Traumatic invalidation has a negative impact on emotions, relationships, and self-esteem. I’ve spoken to many community members who have lost friends and clients, employment opportunities, and marginalization. Ongoing traumatic invalidation can lead to PTSD.
