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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

“Tzur Yisrael, Rock of Israel, May our devotion remain steadfast”
A goat stands in the Negev desert
“Oh this heartbreak,  Silence howling.  Oh this heart ache,  Terror prowling…” 
face of person crying against dark light
“we must turn from death and war / and learn again the message of hope and love and peace.”
light filters through trees
“She fights for her life, while I panic in my room, / thousands of miles away, in plain clothes…”
a view of the sky over Mt Sinai
“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

The Reconstructionist Network

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Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

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The Reconstructionist Network