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

This poem is dedicated to Eden Yerushalmi & Carmel Gat.
a breeze goes through blades of grass against a blue sky
This version of the ‘Unetaneh Tokef’ prayer refers to the atrocities that took place on Oct. 7.
a dusty road
​Rabbi Maurice Harris, Associate Director for Thriving Communities and Israel Affairs Specialist, shares a powerful message for this moment.
a brown shofar set on an open prayerbook
“What is the path home? / Out from our buried place? / To Peace?”
a person's hands are clasped together sitting on an open book
A prayer from Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President and CEO, Reconstructing Judaism, to mark the first anniversary of the atrocities that took place on October 7.
a white dove flies with wings spread wide, behind the dove are tall trees
“I am the Jew / I am a shofar  Calling to the world.”
a person with a tallit over their head holds a shofar to their mouth
Lesléa Newman uses the sestina form to capture her grief.
a shadowy image of a lone tree by a stream
“Only one thing have we shown: we will destroy this world if you let it…”
a field with clouds waving across the sky above it
“Sometimes I want to weep for the loss of so many…”
Woman in a gray sweater sits at desk, participating in a video call with several people on her computer screen.
A powerful poem, remembering those whose lives were lost on October 7th
a single leaf on the ground

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