Minority Mental Health Month: Finding Strength in Small Steps
Mental health is part of everyone's story. Each July, Minority Mental Health Month invites us to recognize how mental health challenges show up in marginalized communities and how stigma, systemic barriers, and trauma make accessing care more complicated.
That includes Jewish communities. Although Jewish communities are often viewed as resilient or high-achieving, the reality is that Jews experience mental health challenges just as frequently as the general population. Yet these struggles are often overlooked, stigmatized, or misunderstood.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiences a mental illness each year (NIMH, 2023). For minority groups, including Jews, cultural narratives and generational trauma often shape how mental health is talked about or not talked about at all.
A Legacy of Silence and Survival
Jewish tradition is deep and multifaceted, offering profound wisdom about the human experience. Like many ancient cultures, it also reflects the understanding of its time. In some traditional texts, mental distress was interpreted through spiritual or moral lenses, occasionally linked to concepts like sin or divine punishment. Terms such as shoteh (often translated as fool or madman) and meshuggeneh (crazy) carried social implications that could lead to exclusion or misunderstanding.
For centuries, survival was the priority. Persecution, pogroms, the Holocaust, and exile created a culture of endurance. Emotional pain was often pushed aside in favor of functionality. Vulnerability could feel like a threat to continuity.
But pain does not disappear just because it is ignored. Over time, that silence becomes its own burden. Today, as we better understand mental health, we also have a chance to rewrite how our communities approach it with honesty, care, and dignity.
Why Small Acts of Wellness Matter
Healing does not always come from big gestures or perfect solutions. Sometimes, it starts with one small decision. A glass of water. A phone call. A moment of quiet.
Small steps can disrupt the wear and tear of chronic stress, burnout, and trauma. For individuals navigating both modern pressures and the weight of inherited struggle, daily wellness practices are a form of resistance and repair.
Examples of small, meaningful acts of care:
- Opening a window and breathing deeply for one minute;
- Setting a reminder to stretch or walk each hour;
- Turning off news alerts after a certain time;
- Writing down one thing that gave you hope today;
- And saying no to one thing that would deplete your energy.
These are not cures, but they are anchors. They help us remember that we are worth caring for.
Healing in Community
In Jewish tradition, healing is rarely solitary. It happens in communities through bikur cholim (visiting the sick), shared meals, music, stories, rituals, and mutual aid. Other cultures carry similar practices, emphasizing collective care, family strength, and spiritual grounding.
We can carry that forward today by:
- Checking in on each other with real questions and listening;
- Making space for mental health in schools, workplaces, and places of worship;
- Learning how different communities experience and express distress;
- And sharing resources without shame.
A Grounding Reminder: This Too Shall Pass
Judaism also offers comfort in its wisdom. The phrase “Gam zeh ya’avor,” this too shall pass, reminds us that even the most overwhelming feelings are not permanent. It is not a way to rush grief or deny hardship, but a way to hold onto hope while honoring pain.
Whether you are thriving, surviving, or somewhere in between, you are not alone. You deserve moments of care, support, and rest, no matter your background or beliefs.
Small steps count. Your story matters. Healing is possible.
This Minority Mental Health Month, let us care for one another with curiosity, compassion, and the courage to begin again, one small act at a time.
Sincerely,
Alena Fishkin, LSW
CUJF JFS Coordinator