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Communal Tragedy

As individuals, we all know pain and loss. It is the rare person who escapes sorrow. But when one of us hurts, others are there to offer comfort. Communal tragedy is different. When something bad happens to us as a community—whether that is a school, a town, a people, or a country—we struggle to figure out how to tend to our own wounds while taking care of each other. Drawing on compassion, empathy, justice, and love, we can bring out the best in each other, and perhaps, find a theology of hope in the midst of despair.

Latest Rituals

This poem is dedicated to Eden Yerushalmi & Carmel Gat.
a breeze goes through blades of grass against a blue sky
This version of the ‘Unetaneh Tokef’ prayer refers to the atrocities that took place on Oct. 7.
a dusty road
​Rabbi Maurice Harris, Associate Director for Thriving Communities and Israel Affairs Specialist, shares a powerful message for this moment.
a brown shofar set on an open prayerbook
“What is the path home? / Out from our buried place? / To Peace?”
a person's hands are clasped together sitting on an open book
A prayer from Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President and CEO, Reconstructing Judaism, to mark the first anniversary of the atrocities that took place on October 7.
a white dove flies with wings spread wide, behind the dove are tall trees
“I am the Jew / I am a shofar  Calling to the world.”
a person with a tallit over their head holds a shofar to their mouth
Lesléa Newman uses the sestina form to capture her grief.
a shadowy image of a lone tree by a stream
“Only one thing have we shown: we will destroy this world if you let it…”
a field with clouds waving across the sky above it
“Sometimes I want to weep for the loss of so many…”
brown skinned woman with dark hair sitting at desk looking at computer screen where an array of faces are shown as on a Zoom screen
A powerful poem, remembering those whose lives were lost on October 7th
a single leaf on the ground

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

Join the Ritualwell community to read and discuss examples of hope expressed in writing through song, story, humor and metaphor that will stir you to think about where hope lives within you.

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