We live in dystopian times. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” Perhaps the only difference is that today he would have told us he Google-searched himself on his smartphone.

Rabbi Dunner uses Franklin’s witticism as the platform to explore human mortality through an anomaly at the beginning of Tazria, and upon reflection during the coronavirus pandemic.