This week's Torah portion is about the details of the priestly offerings, and the process of anointing Aaron, Moses's brother, as the High Priest.
I will admit that this stuff is not my favorite part of the Bible. I like the stories and the characters; I find the poetry of the prophets beautiful, but dense; and I find the details of the sacrifices in Leviticus rather dry. (I'm not alone in that.)
But there is a very interesting and enduring principle in this week's portion. Moses was the holiest person in the nation, and no human being, before or since, had such a close relationship with God. Yet he delegates the role of High Priest to his brother -- who had no direct relationship with God, and also had recently participated, indirectly at least, in the sin of the Golden Calf.
There is a lesson here about the separation of "church" and state -- and also about the need to trust other people with responsibilities. Delegating is one of the hardest things to do, but no successful leader can do everything alone.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2492715&p=complete&jewish=Tzav-Torah-Reading.htm
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 ...
