Survivor Testimony
Jewish Survivors of Childhood Trauma and Significant Others: Please Share Your Experiences
Sidran Institute, in collaboration with the Shofar Coalition, seeks brief original prose, poetry and artwork by Jewish survivors of childhood trauma for publication on this webpage and possibly for an anthology (book). The purpose is to educate professionals, family members and the general Jewish public about the wide ranging effects of the following experiences on Jewish individuals, families and communities:
- childhood maltreatment, perpetrated within or outside the family, including
- physical
- sexual and
- emotional abuse, and
- childhood loss of parent or neglect by parents (or caregivers), including
- illness or injury
- addictions or alcoholism
- depression or other mental illness
- Contentious divorce
- Abandonment
- Incarceration
- Death of parent(s)
The identities of all contributors will be kept anonymous, although pseudonyms may be used. Proceeds from the sale of any resulting publication will be used for educating the Jewish community about childhood trauma.
Content
Please resist the temptation to simply recount the details of victimization or traumatic events. The following questions can be used to spur your writing:For Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma
How do the effects of childhood trauma make you feel; how do they make you see your world?
In hindsight, what do you wish your parents had understood about how childhood trauma would affect you?
What would you like therapists/rabbis to know about your experience of childhood trauma?
What do you think spouses, friends and/or supportive family members should know about the effects of childhood trauma?
What have been the most helpful aspects of therapy or of the healing process; the least helpful?
For Family Members and Significant Others
How has YOUR life been effected by your experience with a loved one or friend suffering from adverse experiences in childhood?
Submission Guidelines
All submissions will be evaluated and selected by an editorial board consisting of community members with various connections to the subject matter (survivors, family members, treatment providers, clergy, etc). Final decisions on material for publication will be the sole responsibility of Sidran Institute Press.
Prose submissions must be limited to 500 words. Poetry limited to two pages. Artwork must be scanned and submitted electronically as a JPG file. Alternatively, the original art may be mailed or delivered to the address below (original artwork can only be returned if a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included with the submission).
Please avoid:
- Descriptions by which individuals can be identified. For example, "my grandfather, who was a physician in Philadelphia" is fine, but "my grandfather who owned the deli at 32nd Street and Broadway" is not.
- Graphic or obscene language or images
- Graphic descriptions or images of sexual or violent behavior
Material may be submitted in 3 ways:
- via the form below (ensuring anonymity -- we can't know who you are if you submit from the form),
- via email to shofar.testimony@sidran.org, or
- via general mail or express service to
Shofar Coalition c/o Sidran Institute,
200 E Joppa Road, Suite 207,
Baltimore, MD 21286.
Please indicate how you would like to be identified, and your town or city name, should your work be chosen for publication. If no name or pseudonym is specified, we will default to "Anonymous, city."
Author's Warranty
By submitting a written or graphic contribution, I expressly warrant that the writing or work is original and has not been previously assigned or published. By submitting this work, I am giving permission that the work may be edited as necessary and published on the Shofar Coalition website, with no remuneration to me.