I'm not just defending my old boss here; I'm defending sanity. What could Bannon possibly know about the January 6 riot (a.k.a. "insurrection)? He left the administration more than three years before it happened. He's not mentioned in hundreds of federal court documents in trials of rioters. Nor is Kash Patel, the former Trump national security advisor who caught Democrats in their unmasking scandal. But he's also been subpoenaed about January 6.
The clue here is the involvement of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the execrable House Intelligence Committee chair who lied to the public about his role in the engineering of the first Trump impeachment, broke his pledge to make the so-called "whistleblower" available, and spied on fellow committee members. Schiff has always wanted to get Bannon, and hates Patel for blowing the whistle on the Democrats for abusing their power in the Russia collusion hoax.
The public is being told that these subpoenas are so important that they warrant criminal referral when defied. In fact, what these subpoenas demonstrate is that the January 6 commission is nothing more than a totalitarian show trial, and anyone involved in them -- especially Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger -- should not only be ashamed but should be voted out of office and opposed vigorously if they ever seek public office again.
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
