Talmud Class: It's Not What Happens, it's the Story We Tell

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Earlier in the year, Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote about her father's friend who was kidnapped at knife-point 50 years ago. It was a powerful piece--both for the thoughtful discussion of this original trauma and its impact on her and on her family friend. But the real story wasn't the kidnapping, nor the way the kidnapping re-ignited memories of her own lived traumas. The real story was that her article inspired countless emails from total strangers who reached out to share their own stories of trauma. Six months after her original article, Taffy published a second reflection titled, "I Published a Story about Trauma. I Heard About Everyone Else's." As humans, we are desperate to share our stories. And, when we tell our stories it doesn't just give us the opportunity to connect, those stories can have a healing affect on our emotional well-being and on the trajectory of our lives. There is a whole school of psychotherapy called narrative theory and practice whereby mental health practitioners help people to process trauma by telling and retelling their story until they find meaning. In this week's Talmud class, we're going to apply narrative theory and practice to the story of Joseph. Joseph's life is full of trauma: he loses his family, is tossed into a pit and sold into slavery, is wrongly accused and imprisoned, and lives the rest of his adult life as an outsider. His story could be a story of loss and trauma, but he reflects a story of hope and connection. He says God brought him to exactly where he needed to be. He gives thanks. How can do this? How can we use the power of stories to metabolize trauma into healing and transformational possibility?