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Showing posts from July, 2016

"Hamilton" meets the Torah

Parashat Chukat - Our Peacemaking Founding Fathers July 15th, 2016 Alli Cohen [Sung] "Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now. Look around, look around"  (Miranda). These lyrics are from the Tony award-winning musical, Hamilton , which tells the story of America’s less-acknowledged founding father, Alexander Hamilton, during the time of the Revolutionary War. These words are sung as a reminder to be thankful for each day and as a reminder to make the most of each day. I felt they were appropriate for today, at a time when we are more keenly aware of life’s fragility and of our own mortality.  How do we memorialize so many individuals who have been killed? How do we pay homage to their lives? This week’s Torah portion may provide some answers for us, as we learn of Aaron’s death. In the Torah we learn that all of the house of Israel mourned the death of their leader Aaron. In one commentary, by Rabbi Joseph Herman He