As we continue the story of “Zohara,” adapted from Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another, by Peninnah Schram, we consider how victims of sexual abuse seek to compensate for what the abuse has taken from us.

Each day, Zohara grew stronger and her wounds healed. Then one day, the jeweler said, “I will make you a new hand and leg out of silver.” And he fashioned her a silver hand and a silver leg. With the silver leg, she could now walk without the stick. She was very grateful. The jeweler had become fond of Zohara, and he asked her to marry him. She agreed, and they became husband and wife…To be continued…

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Sexual abuse always leaves gaping holes in our person-hood. Often, we try to compensate for the holes left in our souls by sexual abuse by propping ourselves up with “silver legs” and covering up our loss with “silver hands.” Addictions and eating disorders are two examples of “silver legs” and “silver hands” used by victims of sexual abuse to replace what the abuse has torn from us. Sometimes we seek solace in marriage thinking surely our spouses can give us what we desperately long for. But these solutions still leave us incomplete and limping much like Zohara’s silver appendages and marriage did.

As the story of Zohara will reveal, we can’t rush or shortcut the healing process.