Episode 10: Rabbi Tirzah Firestone

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone—Intergenerational Trauma Can Be Healed

Real Conversation

There are conversations, and then there are conversations. This intimate conversation with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, author of Wounds into Wisdom, drops into a whole new place—a holy and sacred place. A place where everyone is holy. Everyone is sacred. There is no “other.” A place where there are no concentration camps. No traumatized children. No ancestral pain passed on and on and on. As she chants and prays, we are welcomed under her prayer shawl.

Real Person

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Ph.D., is the author of Wounds into Wisdom, a manual to heal Jewish as well as all intergenerational trauma. Her process is culled from her depth psychotherapy practice and personal healing work. She is a Jewish Renewal rabbi, known for her groundbreaking work on Kabbalah and the reintegration of feminine wisdom within Judaism.

Real Prayer Action

Tirzah gave us so many delicious ways to heal and pray. Here are just a few:

Honor your ancestors. Some families have obvious trauma. Others have never told their stories. Consider your own family. Look more deeply into your ancestry. Tell their stories.
Heal your ancestors. Call them by name. Pray for them. Pray with them. Pray that all wounds be healed, no matter how far back the healing needs to go.
Stop the trauma train. It’s hard, but look at the intergenerational suffering we are creating in our world right now. And do something.
Make a prayer shawl. When Tirzah prays, she goes under her prayer shawl. What a thrilling image! What do you have that could be your prayer shawl? Whether it’s traditional, inherited, or brand new, bless a piece of fabric and see how it feels to pray under your prayer shawl.
Invoke the Divine Feminine. Rabbi Tirzah invokes Shekinah with a beautiful prayer. Chant this or any name of the Divine Feminine:
Shekinah, Light of my soul, help me to be whole,
Help me to love myself and others freely, in a way that's healing
Shekinah, Shekinah, Shekinah

Be sure to open Prayer Bag 10 and receive a chapter of Wounds into Wisdom. Then, visit our Praying at the Speed of Love Facebook community. Rabbi Tirzah is joining us and would love to talk with you about prayer, ancestral trauma, prayer shawls, the divine feminine, and anything else you’d like to explore. This is a special place to meet kindred souls who love sharing how they pray.

Join the Facebook Group

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