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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

A poem on transforming mourning into dancing

Person in a white dress stands in a golden wheat field at sunset, with arms gently outstretched.

Reflecting on the recent desecration of Jewish cemeteries

Stones placed on top of a mossy tombstone in a cemetery.

Meditation for Standing Rock connected to Parashat Vayeitze

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A Hashkivenu prayer in solidarity with Native peoples defending Standing Rock

People marching in a city street holding banners and signs, wearing blue clothing.

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief: a ritual for mourning the death of those we do not know during the High Holidays

candles flicker against a dark background

“Bless the souls of all who have died to save others”

the back of a firefighter with blurred fire in the background

“May their memories be sanctified with joy and love”

black and white photo of a square fountain with a city view in the background

“You who would hold the sky captive, / The sea prisoner, / The land in chains…”

a barbed wire fence stands in front of a torn American flag waving against a gray sky

Seeking solace for survivors of 9/11

a yellow flower growing from broken dry ground

A meditation on the value of a single life among so many murdered

many lit tea lights

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