OK you made me cry.
My tears are not of sadness or despair. These are tears because I recognize the truth that children can express. My tears are also deeply personal because they remind me of a searing trauma that affected my own life.
Please watch this amazing video, which was forwarded to me by my dear friend Dina in Kfar Saba.
It is a group of sixth graders from the Eshkol school, in the region of Israel that was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7.
The work here was produced with the help of musician, Ohav Givaty, as the children sing a moving remake of a song from 2011, "Falling and Rising".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq2R5e5vjE4
My tears are not tears of pity or anger or sadness. They are in appreciation of the adults who are working with kids to help them make sense of the unimaginable. These children have experienced terror, but that does not have to define their lives. Instead of allowing the trauma to continue to reverberate through their lives, these children are being given a chance to express themselves. With their voices and their dance movements these young minds and bodies are exploring how to be resilient. Total healing from a terror attack may not be possible.
Ohav Givaty is a talented young musician who specializes in helping combat soldiers with PTSD. To start working with these children while they are still displaced, while terrorist attacks continue, while hostages remain in captivity, and it is wartime, is incredibly brave and on target. He met up with children from Eshkol who were evacuated to Eilat after Oct.7. They had 5 workshops with Ohav and created their own words, their own message about their experience.
Did you hear these kids acknowledge the terror? Did you hear them describe what they heard, saw, felt? They expressed the unimaginable and the unspeakable. They used their voices and they moved their bodies individually and collectively to exercise their resilience. To heal from trauma resilience requires exercise over a lifetime. Just as physical fitness can only be maintained by exercise resilience requires life long exercise. This resilience will translate into emotional fitness. These kids are learning an essential life skill thanks to Ohav Givaty’s creativity and generosity. Just incredible!
Israelis have had too much experience with PTSD. So again the start up nation takes the lead in addressing trauma. I personally remember the day in 1996 when my college friend Dina called me in tears about a different terrorist attack.
The Dizengoff Center suicide bombing (also Purim massacre) was a Palestinian terrorist attack which took place on March 4, 1996, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim. The suicide bomber blew himself up outside Dizengoff Center in downtown Tel Aviv, killing 13 Israelis and wounding 130 more.
Ironically that was the day some of my family here in the US were in a near fatal car accident in Phoenix, Arizona. Dina from Israel called and somehow got through to me at Maricopa Hospital in Arizona
(remember there were no cell phones).
Sam and I were with our 5 year old daughter. She was in a coma (also unimaginable and traumatic). But Dina was telling me of different trauma. Trauma caused by terrorism. Her step brother’s wife and mother in law had been killed by terrorists. I still can’t quite connect all the dots because I was in the blur of my daughter’s injury. Miraculously my daughter not only survived but has since then thrived.
But since those raw first moments of trauma and tragedy, the Dizengoff Center terrorist suicide bombing remains enmeshed in my memories and each March I remember those moments. What I know about the family who lost relatives because of terror, is that as every year as Purim approaches they have to fight off the terrible darkness that terrorism inflicted. They were young then. Now they are middle aged or older. The trauma of terror does not just grow old with time. It does not neatly fade into the background. It takes work to nurture the resilience one needs to heal.
In my family, my five year old approached years of rehab with a can-do attitude and she prevailed. Not only did she prevail, she “charmed” the adults who marveled at her inner wisdom. Playing the theme song of Titanic on her recorder was just the beginning as she continues to create her own path of resiliance. I imagine these children of Eshkol breakdancing at the beginning of their own trajectories.
And through the tears I have great hope.
When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7th, people all over Israel knew that the psychological injuries would be the most difficult to address. Israelis have learned this lesson the hard way with decades of Palestinian terrorist attacks. In 2024 it is a national priority to address the emotional needs of young and old. The war continues but the Israel as a nation MUST start to heal now.
No one wants to forget Oct 7th. We witnessed the depravity of terror. But to heal means acknowledging the ugly unanswerable questions these children ask. And exercise resilience until it is total muscle memory. The children are teaching us to not fall into the abyss of despair. They are telling us wake up and strive to live life to our fullest.
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