This week, Americans and good people worldwide mourned the loss of Dolly Parton at age 80. Many loved her music, her acting, her public image, or her many successful businesses. Others were inspired by her humanity, generosity and philanthropy, which was innovative and substantial. She inspired Jewish philanthropist Harold Grinspoon to create PJ library (which our Federation partners with) to bring Jewish books and literacy to hundreds of thousands of children worldwide, through her own initiative bringing books and literacy to needy children in the Smoky Mountain region.

I’ve read many notes about her in the past few days and I agree with many that one of the unique things about her was that she was loved or admired across all of the divides and fractures we see in American society today. All of us need those one or two things that we agree on, even if we argue about everything else. As much as I write about Jewish unity in these messages, I recognize that we are in a moment in this country that demands the effort to find common interests and common goals far beyond our own community. May Dolly’s memory be one small part of that necessary dynamic.

I also learned about her book, with the familiar-to-us title A Coat of Many Colors. In one way, her description of her mom making her something to wear from many different pieces of fabric reminded me of a children's book I used to read to my children, Phoebe Gilman’s Something From Nothing (which I highly recommend you purchase for your children or grandchildren). In that book, a recycled coat becomes a shirt then a waistcoat, a scarf, a tie and then a button, and all the while in the fantastic illustrations a thrifty family of mice collects the scraps for their own clothes. Dolly's early life was hard, and she never forgot where she came from, much like the lives of many of us or our parents and grandparents.

Dolly also grew to bring joy to people in their lives even when those lives were difficult or without much in the way of material things. I’ve read that she was very much influenced by scripture, including and especially elements we are familiar with, like Tehilim/Psalms. One of those passages, in the 16th chapter of Tehilim, speaks of joy and delight. I’ve always found Tehilim to bring insight and comfort, and perhaps taking a moment to read it in her honor is something we could all come together to do.

Many of us will have seen her in the great comedy movie 9 to 5. In it, she co-stars with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, overcoming a sadistic and chauvinistic boss played by Dabney Coleman. You might even be humming her hit song “9 to 5” in your head right now. But Dolly showed us through her philanthropy and charitable works that goodness isn’t something to turn on and off. You have to work at it your whole life. May we all learn about goodness from exemplars like her, and may her memory be a blessing for all who are brought even a little bit closer together by her.

Shabbat Shalom