Trauma: a nation still suffocating in grief

“What happened on October 7 is a major ultimate traumatic event – the brutal invasion of homes, the violence, the sadism, the presence of death everywhere. Nothing could meet the criteria of ‘traumatic’ more than this" — Dr Danny Horesh, Head of Trauma Research Lab, Bar-Ilan University.

The effects of this trauma in Israel, and its associated grief, loss and pain are everywhere and ever-present. Palpable and multilayered.

It would be hubris to think that I, writing in Melbourne, can express this pain adequately. As such, this article includes the words of many Israelis – psychologists, psychiatrists, lawyers, writers, a former Defence Minister and IDF Chief of Staff – whose words go some distance in conveying the trauma in Israel since October 7.

“The days are sad and the nights are sad. Grief has settled in the land. These are terrible days, without forgiveness and without mercy” — Michael Sfard, human rights lawyer.

It is there in the public spaces all over the country – Hostage Square, the Jerusalem midrachov, Dizengoff Square – which have been turned into enormous memorials spontaneously created by those who lost loved ones. Posters of the hostages are everywhere, yellow ribbons strung around shops and buildings, and empty chairs with their faces.

Stickers everywhere are dedicated to the young people murdered on October 7, and to the young soldiers who have died – each one with a beautiful face smiling at us; birth and death dates with far too little a time period between; and a brief heartbreaking quote like “keep dancing up there above”.

It is there in the calendar – the changed marking of Jewish and Israeli national days and holidays.

At Pesach, many hostage families and others could not bring themselves to hold a Seder celebrating freedom when their loved ones were still captive in unbearable conditions.