Recent Weekly Torah
The 10th of Av or What Happens Next
The Jewish Calendar does not change, we do.
As we observe Tisha B鈥檃v with fasting and lamentations this Thursday, I am flooded with the memories of other places that I have been when this summer sacred fast day occurred, memories of Camp where, as the lone summer sacred day 鈥 we cannot say holiday 鈥 the whole camp was Tisha B鈥檃v.
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To Fast or Not to Fast? That Is the Question. The Seventeenth of Tammuz
The fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz, this year falling on July 9, 2020, is one of four fasts connected to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E.
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Shabbat-Hukkat-Balak 鈥 "Who Tells Your Story?"
It鈥檚 the repeated theme of the musical 鈥淗amilton鈥: Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?
As Lin Manuel Miranda writes in his notes to the libretto of the show (in 鈥淗amilton, the Revolution鈥 which Miranda wrote with Jeremy McCarter), 鈥淥nce I wrote this passage, I knew it would be the key to the whole musical... It鈥檚 the fundamental truth all our characters (and all of us) share.鈥
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The Path of Wisdom
鈥淚f one found their father鈥檚 and their teacher鈥檚 lost property, their teacher鈥檚 lost object takes priority, for their father brought them into this world, but their teacher who taught them wisdom brings them into the world to come. If one鈥檚 father is wise, one鈥檚 father鈥檚 lost object takes priority鈥︹
-From Mishna Baba Metzia, 2:11
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Remembering for a Purpose
The year was 1868. General John Logan issued General Order No. 11 calling for a national day of remembrance for Civil War dead. May 30 of that year was the day designated for this observance. Flowers were placed on the graves of the fallen soldiers of both the Union and Confederate Armies. From this, Memorial Day was eventually instituted as a national day of observance.
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