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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 meditation for counting the Omer during hard or traumatic times

field of wheat in gauzy sunlight with two figures next to each other working the field

Including eggs in your seder meal to remind us of the circle of life, and that endings often mark beginnings

close up of two eggs on a flat surface

A prayer for strength, wisdom, and compassion amidst pain and suffering

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A poetic reflection on the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in New York City
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A prayer for the well-being of the people of East Africa, and for the wisdom and strength to respond effectively to both the short- and long-term challenges they face

a picture of dried ground from a drought

A prayer for those who continue to struggle after the devastating earthquake in Haiti

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A prayer for World AIDS Day, may this terrible disease become but a nightmare from history

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A moving ceremony including prayers and poems to commemorate the attacks of September 11, 2001
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A poem in memory of those who lost their lives on 9/11

someone's hands are holding a black and white photo of a child, underneath is a pile of photos

A prayer for those in East Africa suffering from drought and famine, and for all those who suffer from a lack of available food and proper nutrition.

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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