This week launches the third of the five books of the Torah, known in English as Leviticus. Typically, we associate this book with the arcane laws of the priesthood and holiness. But it has far greater practical relevance, even today.
The portion focuses on the substance and procedure of animal sacrifices on the Altar. But it also distinguishes between sins committed intentionally and those committed unintentionally, in terms of the kind of repentance required in each.
The problem of unintended consequences from unintended misdeeds is, Hannah Arendt wrote in The Human Condition, one of the major problems faced by civilization, and the Torah attempts to deal with it through ritual.
The portion also commands us not to forget what the evil nation of Amalek did to the Jewish people as they left Egypt, attacking the weak, young, and old from the rear. Amalek is associated with later Jewish enemies, including Haman, whose evil deeds are recounted next week in the Purim holiday, which involves publicly reading the Book of Esther (the Megillah). The additional reading tells the story of how King Saul wrongly spared the king of Amalek.
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
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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 ...
