Our past does not sim­ply dis­ap­pear. The painful his­to­ry of our ances­tors and their rich cul­tur­al wis­dom inter­twine with­in us to cre­ate the pat­terns of our future. Even when past trau­ma remains unspo­ken or has long been for­got­ten, it becomes part of us and our chil­dren — a lega­cy of both strength and wound­ed­ness that shapes our lives. In this book, Tirzah Fire­stone brings to life the pro­found impact of pro­tract­ed his­tor­i­cal trau­ma through the com­pelling nar­ra­tives of Israeli ter­ror vic­tims, Holo­caust sur­vivors, and those whose lives were marred by racial per­se­cu­tion and dis­place­ment. The trag­ic sto­ry of Firestone’s own fam­i­ly lays the ground­work for these reveal­ing tes­ti­monies of recov­ery, for­give­ness, and moral lead­er­ship. Through­out, Fire­stone inter­weaves their voic­es with neu­ro­sci­en­tif­ic and psy­cho­log­i­cal find­ings, as well as rel­e­vant and inspir­ing Jew­ish teach­ings. Sev­en prin­ci­ples emerge from these wise nar­ra­tives — pow­er­ful pre­scrip­tive tools that speak to any­one deal­ing with the effects of past injury. At the broad­est lev­el, these prin­ci­ples are direc­tives for stay­ing moral­ly awake in a world rife with terror.