Today we look ahead to Easter, Passover, and April 15th, the traditional Tax Day (don't worry, you have until Monday, April 18th, to file) with a view to some crazy things the Democrats are doing at the moment: promising gas rebates in California while still retaining high gas taxes; calling for more COVID spending when they haven't burned through everything that was already allocated and there is this little inflation problem that you might have heard about.
We'll also talk about former President Donald Trump's bizarre endorsement of Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz is a charismatic and interesting guy, but hardly a conservative. The Senate is important partly because of its role in judicial confirmations -- and we'll talk about what Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson means for big cases.
Finally, we'll talk about Ukraine -- not just crazy stuff being said by Democrats, establishment Republicans, and the media -- including connecting it to January 6 -- but also what is NOT being reported in the realm of foreign affairs because of the hyper-focus on Ukraine.
Special guests:
May (Davis) Mailman - Independent Women's Forum, on Justice KBJ
Jessica Millan Patterson - CA GOP chair, on Newsom's gas rebate plan
Matthew Boyle - Breitbart News, on Trump endorsing Oz in Pennsylvania
Frances Martel - Breitbart News, on Ukraine and everything but Ukraine
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 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
