I’m having a similar issue right now – except my $ doesn’t contain any elements at all, according to Meteor:
Exception in defer callback: Error: Can't use $ on template instance with no DOM
at Blaze.TemplateInstance.$ (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3516:11)
at Blaze.TemplateInstance.findAll (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3527:42)
at .<anonymous> (http://localhost:3000/app/app.js?hash=d005183c715ba9a6da246205dab30282c2c42e1c:445:8)
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3341:22
at Function.Template._withTemplateInstanceFunc (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3687:12)
at fireCallbacks (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3337:12)
at .<anonymous> (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3417:5)
at fireCallbacks (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:1955:26)
at Object.Tracker.nonreactive (http://localhost:3000/packages/tracker.js?hash=6f5d0f5486aaa54b0abe636174eeb06dcc2a736b:617:12)
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:1952:13
I created a thread on the topic. Please let me know if you find the answer! :3