Communal Tragedy

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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.

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“I am left with only my own thinking heart / in this nightmare humanity has dreamt / for itself.”
“Seeking an impossible calm, we bed / down our gardens for the winter, / wishing we too could sleep soundly.”
This powerful poem was written during the Yom Kippur war in 1973.
“When I raise my voice in anger, help me see the Divine Spark in my opponent.”
“Today, I call for hope. / Tomorrow, I call for peace. / Forever, I call for justice”
The poet frames the loss of life in Israel and in Gaze with this powerful liturgy
“May there be space for history and context, may there be space for mistakes and faith, may there be space for hope…”
“May the One who Blessed those Before Us, bless all those suffering from the devastating atrocities and their aftermath, in our midst.”

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