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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

“On the land / we were forbidden to light / candles, they now burn / under rocket-fire”
close up of five hanukkah candles burning in the dark
“Teach us to spin apart the light in this dark.”
person holding lit tea light candle near rows of other lit tea lights
“In a field of lilies trampled by warriors / the Shekhinah weeps”
close up of light yellow-white lilies with black background
“The voice of lamentation echoes across the land”
A tealight candle burning on a snowy surface.
Ritual to acknowledge loss of abortion access
Silhouette of a person blowing out a candle against a vivid blue background.
“I am tired of praying to a silent God”
Silhouette of a person standing by a large window with a tiled wall background, looking outside.
“Don’t bring your flowers”
A hand holding a polished, striped stone against a blurred background.
“I will never normalize mass death”
A group of people in colorful sweaters join hands in a circle.
The Court of the Innocent has lost faith in us: a rebuke from the gates of heaven
A group of people standing in a close circle, embracing each other in a church setting.

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