During this time of heartbreak...

Secular Synagogue has been coming together over the past week, sharing our feelings and offering each other mutual support.

It is sad that I haven't felt safe or comfortable to make our gatherings public, even when I know many people are in need of community right now. Given the landscape, I've wanted to keep things within the community, to protect our tender hearts because they have already been asked to hold so much.

However, I want to say to everyone reading this, everyone who has ever engaged with Secular Synagogue in any way, if you are hurting right now you are not alone.

At our Shabbat gathering on Friday, our members shared about their feelings, including fear, sadness, despair, rage, helplessness, grief, and hope. Yes, hope. Even during our most painful moments, even as we witness the worst in humanity, we still hope for the best of and for humanity.

I have been feeling it in these moments of connection. The simple messages of support; the smile from and to the person at my kids' school drop off; the unexpected gifts; the hugs. There is hopefulness that people can be good. I know not everyone is feeling connected right now. We live in times of deep disconnection. But I truly hope you can find community somewhere, in some way, right now.

And even if there is nothing else, let this email be a reminder that people are thinking of you now. I am thinking of you now. I want all of us to be safe, and free, and respected, and loved. I want all of us to be our most ethical, peace-making, humanity-loving selves, even and especially when it is most difficult.

I have no real answers for how we get through. I did make this video for ways to meet this moment, but all answers/strategies are imperfect. Of course they are. There is no way to do this well. We are all muddling along and doing our best.

Please seek out care for yourself and, as you can, offer care to those around you. Please remember that grieving and living go hand in hand; pain and beauty go hand in hand. Please breathe fresh air, listen to music, snuggle with a pet or person, remind yourself of this gorgeous gift we call life.

Sending you love and, as the brilliant author Rebecca Solnit puts it, "hope in the dark."