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Communal Tragedy

Memorial wall with photos and plaques honoring Yitzhak Rabin at Tel Aviv assassination site.

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

“I am afraid to wear a kippah, to put on my Star of David, / or to even look or seem a little Jewish…”
a hand holds a chain with a Star of David
“We are living / as if in an experiment…”
A mountain with layers of multi-colored light illuminating the sky
“Who will bathe heated heads with cool clarity?”
a woman looks into the sunset in the desert
“We ask that that you inspire humans to remember our fellow creatures in this time of war, to mitigate the damage that we cause them and to bring us all to a time of peace.”
a dog walks across the desert
“what will ensure / that this will never happen again?”
a person holds their hands to their ears in distress
“the cry rises from every throat – may this never happen again!”
water rolls through a log
“Help our nighttime wakings / become sites of radical imagination and creativity…”
a dove fles in front of buildings
“Bring to our turn-table faith that we can turn the tide, / where children’s laughter sparkles in the clear blue air…”
a sky of blue clouds
“In this grove that awakens in me forgotten tears of grief…”
a grove of trees overlooks the water

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

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The Reconstructionist Network