Map

Introduction to the Map

The map below explores some of the manifestations of collective trauma for many assimilated white Ashkenazi Jews living in the U.S. It is intended as a tool for personal healing and to support the transformation of our Jewish communities, deepening our capacity to work together in solidarity against all forms of oppression. 

White Ashkenazim are not a homogenous group. The variance in our identities is related, in part, to the impact of state violence on our ancestors, our families, and our own bodies, the political context of our/our ancestors’ immigration, the conditions informing our/our ancestors’ experiences of assimilation, how many generations our families have lived in the U.S., our connection to religious tradition, our access to resources, and the other identities we and our family members carry.

Although the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors shown on this map are not specific to, nor inherent for, all white Ashkenazi Jews, I believe there is a constellation of behaviors — we can call patterns — common amongst many white Ashkenazim related to trauma that we, our families, and our ancestors have experienced.

Many of these patterns illustrate what Resmaa Menakem calls decontextualized trauma. Due, in large part, to the pressures and demands of white supremacy, white Ashkenazim whose ancestors immigrated to the U.S. may not feel connected to the cultures or know the places our ancestors called home. We may not be aware of the political conditions or specific circumstances that informed our families’ immigration or their early experiences of assimilation. Thus, our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors may be decontextualized, deeply informed by experiences to which we have no conscious connection.

Many Jewish People of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardim and Mizrahim (JPOCISM), religious Jews, and first generation immigrants —including Jews who grew up in multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-faith homes — may carry some of these patterns, as well as additional sets of patterns. This is evidence of the multiplicity of intersecting ancestral lineages, lived and inherited experiences, and survival strategies alive within our communities. Many of these patterns can also be found in other groups living in diaspora, communities who carry histories of displacement, expulsion or forced migration. 

The patterns we carry are intricate, complex, and multi-layered. Our internalized experiences related to one identity intersect with the impacts of racism, sexism, ableism, capitalism, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia and other oppressions. Many of the patterns on this map are expressions of internalized anti-Semitism intersecting with whiteness and a range of experiences with class struggle and class privilege.

In recognizing all of this, we are reminded that there is not something innate, different, or unique about white Ashkenazi Jews that creates these patterns. These patterns are manifestations of collective trauma. As my sister Dove Kent says, “Our grief connects us to others’ grief. Our terror connects us to others’ terror. The trauma Jews have experienced does not make us separate from other Peoples; it connects us to other Peoples.” 

Incantation

My kavannah, my heart’s intention, is that this map be in service to the healing of personal, collective, and ancestral trauma. 

For assimilated white Ashkenazi Jews, like myself, and for all Jews and Peoples who share deep resonance with the patterns illuminated here: May we offer ourselves and one another connection, discernment, and compassion. May we hold gently any strong impulses towards perfection and isolation. And may we invite spaciousness, love, and grounded pacing as we reach collectively towards shared visions of liberation. 

May all of us who engage with this tool be held and guided as we participate in the poignant work of transforming our Jewish institutions, organizations, congregations, and communities, and support the wider social justice organizing required in this potent time. 

And, as we engage in this sacred work, may all of our efforts be in service to, and deeply sustained by, the wisdom and courage of our ancestors.

Please see Acknowledgments for the names of those whose love and labor contributed to this work.

Please fill out this form to download the map and toolkit.

How This Tool Was Developed

I began writing about the intersections of internalized anti-Semitism and internalized white superiority for white Ashkenazi Jews in the U.S. when I entered graduate school in 2006. Around the same time, I began intentionally healing these places within myself through Re-evaluation Counseling with my teacher Dr. Barbara Love, who was also my graduate school professor and mentor. Barbara taught that this healing work was nothing less than liberatory. 

I started facilitating trainings about oppression and liberation in Jewish community in 2007 for the Adamah Fellowship at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. But it was years before I would center anti-Semitism and internalized anti-Semitism in my trainings. I was held captive by the delusion that dismantling anti-Semitism wasn’t an important direction for our movements. I had invested in the myth that if we white Ashkenazi Jews centered our own healing, that, rather than increasing our vitality, flexibility and capacity, we would be leeching resource from the communities and issues that mattered. 

Releasing myself from this delusion profoundly shifted my understanding of liberation, helping me to recognize that true deep healing, when done with consciousness and intention, can serve as a catalyst for collective transformation.

I used to bring to workshops a simplified image of this map drawn up on a big blue queen-sized bed sheet. I’d pin it with tacks on the walls of offices and living rooms. And, as I told my own stories, and as I unveiled these evidences of our Peoples’ struggle, I felt the room shift, loosen and transform. 

It’s been a profound experience to witness the thirst I see in cohorts of Jewish young adults as they pour over this content. I’ve heard reports of this work being transformative for so many, igniting a liberatory re-framing of familial, romantic and work relationships, approaches to organizing, and general sense of self in the world. 

I feel deeply grateful to be making this material accessible for a wider collective. Blessings to all who are reaching for personal and collective liberation. May the interconnectedness of all Peoples resonate more and more deeply as we heal. 

Map Design

The design work for this map was a collaboration between Jo Kent Katz and Emma Koramshahi, a brilliant and generous designer and filmmaker in Northampton, Massachusetts. Please check out her work at emmakoramshahi.com.

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