The last few years I have read so many books and studied with many teachers in the areas of inherited trauma, collective trauma, ancestral healing and it never ceases to amaze me how deep we can go with these topics.
I read a book Emotional Inheritance. It’s a short book, larger print, quick read, but extremely powerful, especially if you are doing your personal and ancestral healing work. Healing is like peeling an onion, layer by layer. Each layer we move through sends us deeper into ourselves, our lineage, our traumas both personal and inherited. This book, like many others I have read, can be consumed more than once and you will always learn or see something new. You will always heal a new layer of yourself.
Galit was born in Israel, grew up there, then later immigrated to the U.S. and she lives and works in New York City. Of course she, like every inherited trauma author, talks about epigenetic studies and the Holocaust. She also provides case studies of clients with other presenting issues that link back to family secrets, family patterns, dead siblings, or choices that were made and covered up. She even hits upon what I discovered in 2019, that we can be living and recreating parts of our ancestors traumas, wishes, unfulfilled hopes & dreams, and pain in our own lives and relationships. I certainly did this with the Dutch husband. I was repeating patterns and trying to fulfill dreams for my WWII grandparents. However, when I understood what I was living out and that it was not mine, but connected, that I chose to take it on to heal, I started diving in and doing deeper healing work to unplug and release myself from it all. To heal the bloodline.
Galit also covers topics of immigration and what was expected in a new country, often the removal and hiding of who someone was and where they came from. She highlights Israel and the Jewish identity that was created after the Six-Day War, which then required anyone immigrating, to give up their old identity, language, customs, and become something new, whether they wanted to or not. Galit had a lot to say and explain about Israel and the Jews post-WWII that I think everyone should learn about and sit with. Remember, if you look at immigrants to America – we more or less forced them to integrate, hide their former selves, give up their languages so they would fit in. We see this pattern in most countries as a rule for becoming a resident or naturalized citizen – give up your identity and forget everything about the past.
Is that really necessary? What we ignore, hold secret, shove down deep, still shows up and will repeat until healed. Why is it so bad that each individual on this planet is just that – an individual? Why do we have to give up who we are to fit a mold for a country we choose to live in? Deep questions to consider.
I have a few other thoughts on this book in the video below. I’d love to know if you read this book and what your thoughts are. Please share in the comments.
Be sure to watch the video of some thoughts after you read this article.
Are You Ready to Start Writing and Researching?
I would love to help you research and write the stories of your family members from World War I – Vietnam. If you are ready to start a research or writing project, email me at info@wwiirwc.com and let’s set up a free phone consultation. I’m excited to help you bring your family’s military history to life and preserve it for generations.
© 2022 WWII Research & Writing Center
Leave a Reply