Is the Fight Against Anti-Semitism the Answer To Global Well-Being?

With more than 60% of religious-based hate crimes in the United States targeting the Jewish community, fighting anti-Semitism has never been more important. And fighting anti-Semitism from the perspective of trauma— its symptoms and the possibility of healing — is key to successful interventions.

That was why I was thrilled to participate in the recent Mayors Summit Against Anti-Semitism, an event conducted by Combat Anti-Semitism, a global grassroots movement that united 32 mayors from 21 different countries, as well as senators, human rights commissioners, law enforcement officials and interfaith leaders, to identify best practices for combating anti-Semitism.

In my panel presentation, I pointed to the need to address the trauma of victims and perpetrators. Even in the aftermath of loss of life, injuries and destruction of property, victims can still produce stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, even when they are not needed anymore, causing ongoing traumatic symptoms. This stress can cause communities to develop hypervigilance and fear that violence will become contagious.

The immediate healing of the community under attack depends on the actions taken by the local authorities. When the public, officials and the media recognize and denounce the anti-Semitic attacks, victims feel supported. By contrast, they will feel more traumatized, isolated and cut-off from the rest of the population if these sectors do not show support.

Public officials and organizations should also offer short-term healing tools that incorporate self-regulation. Those that can be used by the lay public on the spot and are evidence-based may include mindful breath; EmotionAid®, which harnesses the power of the body for nervous system regulation; and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and its different variations, which use tapping energy points to achieve regulation.

Instructional videos for these techniques are readily available on streaming platforms such as YouTube, which makes their incorporation into society so feasible. They can be shown in times of crisis on public TV. In normal times, they can be introduced through videos and trainings for workers in the social sectors that interface with trauma. Disseminating these tools to the lay public will help people release fear, anger and helplessness on the spot, prevent cumulative trauma and build resiliency. The mayoral summit is a great step to building local support and sharing strategies on how to bring healing tools to the public.

To properly heal anti-Semitism, however, we must look at the bigger picture, focusing on when and why it seizes the minds of the rich and the poor, far-right and far-left, majority and minorities. Collective healing is not just part of addressing the aftermath of anti-Semitism — it’s about preventing it from metastasizing in the first place.

Collective healing is not just part of addressing the aftermath of anti-Semitism — it’s about preventing it from metastasizing in the first place.

Anti-Semitism flourishes when people feel economically diminished, psychologically ignored and dispensable: When larger minority groups feel oppressed, when intellectuals and activists want to overhaul political or economic systems or when people reminisce about a past culture. They all need an easily identifiable group on whom they can project blame.

What turns this diminishment into traumatic hatred are unmet universal basic needs. When basic needs are met, people feel stable. But if, for example, physical basic needs (such as the need for economic safety) are combined with threatened psychological needs (such as competence and self-esteem) and a traumatic loss (such as the pandemic or other overwhelming changes), their nervous systems become deregulated.

Feeling alienated and disconnected, these traumatized individuals and groups (such as far-right or far-left extremists) begin to look for scapegoats. They demonize “the other,” opening the path for racial, religious or ethnic prejudice. They view violence as a self-defense against their threatened identity. That “other” may be any group that is different and makes a valuable target. But anti-Semitism is the easiest path to follow in times of trouble. It is ancient, it has strong religious underpinnings, and the Jews are geographically dispersed because of the Diaspora. Anti-Semitism has become so viral that it has metastasized as a symbol of discontent, unhappiness, dejection and revolt against oppression.

For example, a man shot and killed 11 Jewish worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg in 2020 because the synagogue hosted activities supporting refugees. The shooter believed Jews were helping illegal immigrants enter the United States, which he determined undermined both his American culture and access to jobs. Combined with his unemployment and his difficult childhood, his traumatic reaction was to target the synagogue. Often personal traumatic history combines with collective trauma to trigger violent reactions.

Preventing anti-Semitism, then, requires addressing traumatic dysregulation on a collective level. We must combine trauma healing, resiliency building, cross-cultural understanding, conflict resolution and communication skills and spread them in the collective consciousness through different social sectors. They can be presented as part of basic training for fire departments, first responders, police, schools, hospitals, religious institutions and media, all sectors that interface with trauma and have the ability to exacerbate it or heal it.

When people learn to stabilize their nervous system and remain centered on an ongoing basis, they can contain difficult emotions without acting out. They become more open, flexible, understanding and tolerant of differences, allowing them to resolve their problems in rational and constructive ways. With these tools, people can recognize the first signs of traumatic activation and return their collective nervous systems to normal. This will help people care, cooperate and be partners for peace.

Anti-Semitic speech and acts must be denounced and stopped, but we should also analyze what went wrong and who needs listening, attention and care. Enlisting mayors worldwide to these local interventions will diminish anti-Semitism and help people meet their needs in healthy ways.

The Mayors Summit Against Anti-Semitism was just the beginning. Other summits, such as the AJC’s Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism, followed shortly after. National joint efforts will allow leaders to share what initiatives work best and will protect officials from anti-Semitic backlash. Uniting these national efforts to those of other countries will take this fight to the necessary global level. And maybe, just maybe, those hate crime statistics will drop.

Diminishing anti-Semitism begins with healing trauma. When we use this paradigm to inform our collective efforts, we are on the road to global peace.

Gina Ross, MFCT, is the Founder/President of the International Trauma-Healing Institute USA (ITI-Israel).