Communal Tragedy

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 is the path home? / Out from our buried place? / To Peace?”
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.
“I am the Jew / I am a shofar  Calling to the world.”
Lesléa Newman uses the sestina form to capture her grief.
“Only one thing have we shown: we will destroy this world if you let it…”
“Sometimes I want to weep for the loss of so many…”
A powerful poem, remembering those whose lives were lost on October 7th
“My heart / is cracked / into more pieces / than I thought possible…”
Rabbi David Mark offers a teaching following the deaths of six hostages killed in Gaza.
“For the length of a medical visit my imagination roamed the wreckage of another’s mind and hers, mine…” 

The Reconstructionist Network

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Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

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The Reconstructionist Network