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

“What stories will we tell this infant / war, what songs sing to it?”
person hiking in the desert
“May love flow from our broken hearts, and may their yearning return us to our humanity.”
woman deep in thought
“We reach to touch souls as luminous as mirrors / so we might reflect light back to each other.”
An Eagle reflected in water
“I do not live in Israel but I have / tasted all her fruits…”
The Jerusalem skyline
“Reasons mean nothing in the harsh light of consequence / Reasons are but shadows of war”
shadows-holding-hands-walking-on-dark-desert-road-toward-mountains
“Maybe you don’t know about my / passion for justice and integrity.”
a woman sits wth hands on her forehead in sadness
“and so I stumble / through my workday, / weeping in between meetings…”
close up of person's hands on their chest outdoors in sunlight
“May we not be afraid / To act big and save the world.”
a person stands looking into a sky full of pink and green clouds
“I pray for peace in every heart / In every living thing”
sailboat on the ocean with stars above
“I cradled your / black-inked letters, letters overflowing with infinity…”
fire burning against a black sky

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