ר ד ס ה י נ מ
ס Symbols of the Seder
Order
Rabbi Beth Naditch
In the days and weeks after October 7th , chaos swirled . Safety , meaning , and narrative were shredded on that day , and in the ensuing time as the drums of anti-Semitic tropes grow louder , it has been hard to find secure footing in the world . The answer to the simple question of " How are you ?" has moved from polite platitude to impossible and intractable puzzle . I found , in those early weeks , that my only possible answer to that question was " Shattered ." As our ancestors carried the smashed tablets of the covenant alongside the whole ones as we traveled through the wilderness , I hoped that our community had an ark strong enough to hold the sharp slivers , the rough pieces , the broken fragments of everything that has splintered .
For me , an early moment of respite arose when I found my way to an expressive arts therapist who threw open her studio to people impacted . Around tables with art supplies , our community of disparate mourners gathered . We had never met before but shared a connection to Israel and to the Jewish people . Some had lost relatives in the massacre , some had family and friends under regular rocket attack , others cherished their own connections , experiences , and the place of Israel
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