By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Religion can be a source of comfort for someone going through a traumatic experience. Religion can also be a source of pain for those who feel it doesn’t provide adequate answers to their questions and struggles. These two statements articulate the themes underlying the essays found in “The Sacred Struggle: Jewish Responses to Trauma” edited by Rabbi Lindsey Danziger and Rabbi Benjamin David (Reform Judaism Publishing/CCAR Press). The writers featured show the struggles they went through in order to reconcile Judaism and the trauma they experienced, while outlining the different paths that often took. 
In her introductory essay “Defining Trauma: What It Is, What It Does, and How It Changes Us,” Betsy Stone, Ph.D., makes it clear that, after a traumatic experience, life does not return to the old normal, but, rather, people find themselves experiencing a new version of normal. She notes we store our memories of trauma in our limbic system, meaning that our bodies can react to trauma before our brains are able to interpret what is happening. She discusses post-traumatic growth, but notes that this cannot be guaranteed because trauma “changes the way our brains function.” Her essay helps put the other essays into perspective as each writer struggles with making sense of the changes that occurred in their lives. 
The work is divided into five sections. The first, “Jewish Textual Foundations for Understanding Trauma” offers commentary on how biblical, rabbinic, liturgical, musical and poetic writings can help people deal with trauma. The trauma of medical conditions is featured in “Trauma of Acute to Chronic Illness.” “Trauma of Marginalization” includes discussions of addictions, transition, depression and racism. Recovery from acts of violence is explored in “Trauma from Personal and Communal Violence.” “Trauma from Natural Disasters and Pandemics” offers lessons about reactions to hurricanes, wildfires, AIDS and COVID. Ethical misconduct, toxic communities and retirement are the topics under discussion in “Trauma and Community.” The last section focuses are on “Trauma and Family,” with essays discussing divorce, infertility, suicide and mourning a child. 
The essays are uniformly well done, although different ones will obviously resonate with readers depending on their life experiences or the skill of the author. Those that stood out include:

• Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman’s discussion of the way liturgy can help those who have experienced a trauma in “Can Religion Bring Comfort? The Case for Liturgy.” He notes that although God does not always answer our prayers, it’s still important to pray, noting that the ancient rabbis “fashioned prayer not simply as statements of fact... but as expressions of hope” that are still meaningful today.
• Rabbi Wendy Zierler’s look at how song can help us heal in “Again the Song Goes Out: October 7 Through the Lens of Classic Israeli Song.” Her thoughts on the use of these songs to find comfort and meaning will make readers look forward to her upcoming book “Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry.” 
• Rabbi Debra R. Hachen’s incredibly moving tribute to her husband, Peter, and his struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, which also discusses the ways his disease affected her, in “Discovering Holiness: A Jewish Love Story in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s.” Her deep love for Peter is clearly expressed, as are her fears and doubts. 
• Rabbi Joel Mosbacher’s discussion of his reaction to the murder of his father in “From the Narrow Places: The Trauma of Gun Violence.” He offers interesting thoughts on the Mourner’s Kaddish: “And in those first months after his death, I read the words of the Mourner’s Kaddish as if for the first time. I always knew that the prayer didn’t speak of death, but when I read it after my father was killed, I came to realize that, for me, it was a kind of fake-it-until-you-make-it prayer.” The prayer offered him the hope that someday he would once again be able to praise God. 
• Rabbi Paul Kipnes, who writes about surviving a wildfire in “The Still Small Voice: How Faith Helped Navigate California’s Wildfires.” Using verses from I Kings, he notes that we should not expect to find God while we are in the midst of a crisis. Instead, once the crisis is over, “we fight our way back to renewed faith. And there we found the still small voice.” He sees that voice in the way the community helped each other and how others – friends, family and others – brought peace and comfort.
• Two discussions on illness – “Choosing Life and Finding Resilience in the Face of AIDS” by Rabbi Denise L. Eger and “Nachamu Ami, Comfort My People: Serving as a Hospital Chaplain During COVID” by Rabbi Leah Cohen Tenenbaum, D.Min, B.C.C., P.C.A.H.C. – show not only the toll illness takes on family and friends, but on chaplains trying to deal with trauma.
• Two essays on the tragic death of the authors’ children – “The Crawl Space Between Grief and Gratitude: The Devastating Death of a Daughter” by Rabbi Susan Talve and “A Path to Healing Through Tradition: Jewish Mourning Rituals and Beliefs After the Death of My Child” by Rabbi Rex D. Perlmeter, L.S.W. – which are moving and challenging works about one of the worst things that can happen to a parent.

Due to the emotional nature of the essays, “The Sacred Struggle” is best read a little at a time so as not to feel overwhelmed by the grief many of these authors still feel. In the work’s concluding essay, “Nechemta: Find Comfort,” Danzinger warns that readers are at risk of secondary trauma as a result of bearing witness to what the writers experienced. Those who have lived through particular trauma may also find themselves triggered by specific essays. Danzinger does hope that readers – especially those who have experienced trauma – will find comfort and wisdom in these pages. The work certainly does give one a great deal to ponder, particularly the different ways the writers have learned to live with the experiences that have scarred their lives.