Nations, like people, carry assumptions about the world that allow them to function. These assumptions are rarely spoken aloud. They are simply lived.

That mornings begin in peace.
That homes are safe.
That joy is trustworthy.
That institutions will hold.
That tomorrow will resemble today.

On October 7th, those assumptions shattered.

Israel did not only experience an attack. It experienced rupture—a tearing open of the emotional, psychological, and spiritual frameworks that had made daily life intelligible. What followed was not only grief, but disorientation: the feeling that the world no longer made sense in the way it once had.

This is what trauma does when it reaches the scale of a nation.

The Collapse of the Assumptive World

Psychologists describe the internal framework that helps people navigate life as an “assumptive world”—a set of beliefs about safety, order, and predictability that operates largely beneath conscious awareness. Trauma collapses that framework.

After October 7th, Israelis reported symptoms not only of fear, but of dislocation:

Sleep fractured.
Time blurred.
Attention scattered.
Trust eroded.
Meaning thinned.

People found themselves scanning rooms instinctively, startled by ordinary sounds, unable to imagine the future without bracing for danger. Children absorbed fear they could not name. Adults struggled to answer questions they had never expected to face.

Trauma did not remain contained within individuals. It........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)