Apologies for missing a day here and there. I have been very busy getting ready for my trip to South Africa. I'll have a lot more to say about it in the days ahead, as I shift into gear in a big way. You'll want to follow...
Let me start by observing that Thursday will feature the annual State of the Nation address by the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. The address will be given from Cape Town City Hall -- run by the opposition -- because of recent fire damage to Parliament.
The speech kicks off at 7 p.m. local time (12 p.m. EST) and will last about an hour. Ramaphosa is expected to address the country's recovery from COVID, its ailing economy, and questions around corruption, specifically the "capture" of the government by private interests with members of the ruling party in their pockets.
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
- The state of the economy
- The fight against crime
- The midterm election fight
- The struggle for peace between Russia and Ukraine
- The airstrike on the Venezuelan drug cartel
- The attempt to sink Kennedy
- The war in Gaza
- The case against Harvard
- The Trump presidency
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
