Coronavirus

Two people wearing masks, one handing a grocery bag to the other outside a brick house.

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken our lives. Many of us have experienced loss of loved ones, loss of income, illness, fear, isolation, frustration, fatigue. Some of us have put our lives at risk on the front lines as doctors and nurses, grocery workers, delivery workers, and other places of vulnerability. All of us are trying to cope and adapt to a new reality. We all suffer in different ways, and no one’s suffering is more important than anyone else’s. We are in this together. And we can help each other. Below are blessings, prayers, poems and rituals written during the pandemic: from graduation and b’nei mitzvah ceremonies to prayers for health care workers to blessings for handwashing. These resources offer healing, hope, meaning, structure, gratitude and joy during this fragile moment.

Latest Rituals

“in this plague spring …”

Hand wiping wooden table with yellow cloth, fruit bowl in foreground, cozy living room in background.

“I’m calling her daily, even / Though it took a pandemic”

Black and white photo of a young woman embracing an elderly woman, both smiling warmly at each other.

“I am sorry / you cannot play / with your friends”

Parent lying on the floor overwhelmed while two kids play with colorful building blocks in a messy room.

“I’m OK during the day, but at night I get scared”

Woman meditating in nature, eyes closed, hands on chest, with a serene forest background.

“Please mute yourself and listen”

Person in blue beanie and face covering, wearing sunglasses, with a blurred green background.

“I love seeing the inside of your home”

Laptop displaying a video call, with tulips and a coffee mug nearby on the table.

Mikveh ceremony for transitioning to life after experiencing the coronavirus pandemic

Child climbing out of a lake at sunset, with ripples in the golden water.

Ritual to acknowledge the complicated experience of feeling both gratitude and grief

Open book and a lined notebook with a pen on a gray surface.

Bless those in need of healing

Smooth stones with words like Friends, Love, and Hope arranged on a tree stump.

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