“#MakeJewishBabies”: Trauma, Identity Formation, and Biological Reproduction in the American Jewish Diaspora

This paper considers the interlinked phenomena of childbirth, nation-building, and post-traumatic life in the American Jewish diaspora using the case study of a homemade protest sign at the March for Israel rally in November 2023. Irina Barskaya, an American Jewish woman who traveled to Washington for the March, brought with her a sign that read “Bring them home” on one side (a reference to the Israeli hostages taken captive by Hamas on October 7th) and on the other, “Who’s coming home with me? #MakeJewishBabies.” This sign is emblematic of the "continuity paradigm," a pro-natalist mentality that encourages solidarity and futuricity. It presents a successful, preservationist response to trauma, but it also produces biopolitical governmentalities that have the potential to harm Jewish futures, particularly when female Jewish bodies become sites of national reproduction. Ultimately, critical self-examination is required to avoid replicating broader nationalist paradigms and further compromising Jewish women's bodily autonomy.