Today's show will consider the ongoing attacks on freedom by the left -- the attempt to persecute the opposition through the January 6 committee, and the attempt to censor Joe Rogan. I agree with former VP Pence that Trump is wrong about whether he could have overturned the election -- and just because something is theoretically permissible under the Constitution does not make it constitutional in spirit. We'll discuss...
Also, we'll talk about the Canadian truckers, the fading omicron wave, the failure of single-payer health care in California, Ambassador David Friedman's new book about his Middle East experience, and Christian Toto's new book about "woke" Hollywood!
Guests include:
Ezra Levant - founder of Rebel News and speaker at the truckers' rally
Paul Mango - former Trump HHS official who ran Operation Warp Speed
Jessica Millan Patterson - California GOP chair, on Democrats' latest failures
David Friedman - fm. Ambassador to Israel on his new book, "Sledgehammer"
Christian Toto - of HollywoodInToto.com on "Virtue Bombs"
Tune in: SiriusXM 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
