The relentless flow of troubling news can be hard for even the most world-weary to digest. For Holocaust survivors, some images and headlines cut especially deep.
Lisa Holzkenner, 86, knows that feeling well.
In the weeks and months following October 7, footage of hostages, rising antisemitism at home and abroad, and relentless war and destruction of a place many Jews consider their only homeland stirred up memories and fears she never expected to resurface.
Processing that news on her own might have been overwhelming — but Lisa didn’t have to. Thanks to Selfhelp, a UJA partner providing a wide range of social services to older adults, survivors have been able to watch, discuss, and share their feelings about the news out of Israel with others who understand them — fellow survivors.
The survivors have been participating in a virtual program created to help them digest potentially triggering information under the thoughtful guidance of Hanan Simhon, vice president of Selfhelp’s Holocaust Survivor Program.
Lisa, a psychoanalyst who specialized in working with Holocaust survivors and their families, became involved in Selfhelp through her late husband, who was liberated from Dachau. She was born in Morocco, which at the time was controlled by the Nazis, later moving to France and then Israel.
A Safe Space
The 45-minute virtual class, which began within two weeks of the October 7 attack, is a “safe space” for its participants, which number from 10 to 18 per week, explains Hanan. “They’re very guarded about Israel, which was created on the heels of the Holocaust. When there’s an attack on Israel, there’s an attack on their past.”
Like all of Selfhelp’s Holocaust survivor offerings, this class is trauma-informed, he adds. ‘We keep the trauma-informed lens at the forefront of all our programming.”
“It takes “hours and hours” to come up with content (mostly videos) that’s not “triggering,” he adds. “Immediately after October 7, so much coming out of Israel was very graphic and terrible to watch.” The majority of the clips come from Israeli stations; others are from social media and other U.S. media. Hanan pulls snippets from different sources, making sure to delete more disturbing images.
And while the program is technically about the news from Israel, it’s impossible not to acknowledge the current situation in our own city and country. “It’s hard not to talk about antisemitism here,” he says. “I try to let that happen, and we look at how that affects Israel.”
Among the participants, “there’s a very backed-against-the-wall feeling that the world is against us,” Hanan says. “Sometimes it’s very emotional, but they’re there to comfort each other.”
Offered in both Russian and English, the program is one of 35 virtual classes offered through Selfhelp’s Virtual Senior Center, which is also funded by UJA. The center was established in 2010 to create connection for socially isolated seniors via Zoom. A second portal, created specifically to meet the emotional and social needs of survivors (and open only to them), was established during the pandemic and offers 15 live classes each week.
In the sessions, survivors feel comfortable sharing their opinions and feelings about this very emotional time, feelings that others who have not had similar life experiences may not be able to identify with, Hanan explains. “They have a sense of community. And while they don’t agree with each other all the time, they are immensely respectful and caring to one another.”
“Given what’s going on with antisemitism around the world, I am anxious,” says Lisa, who trained as a social worker and psychotherapist. She is grateful for the emotional and moral support she experiences as part of the group. “There is someone you can talk with who understands, because not just anybody can understand.
“Hanan is a wonderful human being. He knows how to neutralize conflictual situations with empathy,” she says. “I feel supported and understood by the group and by him. I have a home in this group.”
Originally, the plan had been to end the program when all the hostages were released, but when that time came, they were adamant that it continue. “They formed a community, and they wanted to stay together,” Hanan adds.
He has no objections. “This is a labor of love for me. I’ll do it as long as they want me to.”
“I’m struck by Selfhelp and the Holocaust Survivor program,” says UJA’s Kayleh Levy-Weller, of UJA’s Caring Department. “We invest so much in this work because we want this thoughtful, loving care to be made possible for survivors.”
Through UJA's Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors and annual campaign funds, we provide over $7 million each year across more than 25 programs in New York and Israel to support Holocaust survivors.