Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD: Harnessing Ancestral Pain into Power

February 4, 2025

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD: Harnessing Ancestral Pain into Power

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD February 4, 2025

Our understanding of the severe scope of trauma in our world has greatly expanded in recent years. This includes intergenerational trauma, something that all of us likely carry within. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone about her book Wounds into Wisdom and our collective task to acknowledge, face, and work to heal our invisible wounds and break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. 

Tami and Tirzah discuss: the concept of “image deposits” and “task deposits”; dreams containing real-life experiences of our ancestors, and how they are far more common than we might think; the shift from impotence to agency; harnessing our pain as a fuel for growth; how the human nervous system holds on to unresolved trauma despite the debilitating consequences; hypervigilance and the dangers of overactive stress hormones; overcoming self-blame, shame, unworthiness, and isolation; unlearning inherited beliefs that impair our well-being; choosing compassion instead of “othering”; the roots of anti-Semitism; kabbalah, the mystical branch of Judaism; disidentifying from victimhood; the power of being witnessed; why healing intergenerational trauma is a gift to both our ancestors and our descendants; self-regulation and coming back home to ourselves in nurturing ways; a guided practice for finding inner safety amid stressors; alchemizing pain into wisdom (instead of passing it on); and more.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD, is an author, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in the international Jewish Renewal Movement, and a renowned Jewish scholar and teacher. Widely known for her groundbreaking work on Kabbalah, depth psychology, intergenerational trauma healing, and the reintegration of the feminine wisdom tradition within Judaism, Rabbi Tirzah lectures and teaches internationally about spiritual and ancient wisdom practices that are honed to assist us at this critical time in world history. Her latest work, “Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma,” is the recipient of the 2020 Nautilus Book Award Gold in Psychology and the Jewish Women's Caucus of the Association for Women in Psychology 2020 book award.

Author photo © Laura Hobbs

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Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

Photo © Jason Elias

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