At this moment of great moral reckoning, we are speaking out with one voice to fulfill the most sacred obligation in Jewish tradition – pikuach nefesh, saving a life

Elul 14

How can we begin expressing Kharata- grief, acknowledgement for the harms done in our names and with our tax money in Gaza knowing harm is ongoing and repair will take generations? 

We would have to be silent for nearly a month to give even a minute of silence for each life lost. 

How will you balance the silence of grief and acknowledgement with the urgency of action today? 

Kharata- grief, acknowledgement- The second of five stages Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb @rabbilynngottlieb offers as guidance in this season of Teshuva. 

She suggests focusing on one stage each week: 

  1. Hacarat ha’khet- recognition of harm and its anatomy; 
  2. Kharata- grief, acknowledgement; 
  3. Vidui – Witness; 
  4. Peiraon – Reparations (rehabilitation, resiliency, compensation; 
  5. Guarantees of non-repeating that harm. 

We will share prompts inspired by her teaching in each corresponding week. 


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