I'm back on the air after several weeks when I was away for family reasons. This will be a very interesting episode, because we'll be looking both forward and back.
Forward: to President Biden's visit to the Middle East, trying to pick up the pieces of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and begging the Saudis for oil. We'll talk to Avi Jorisch, who is doing the hard work of building alliances.
Forward: to the next hearing of the January 6 Committee, which is going to weave a conspiracy theory linking President Trump to far-right groups that stormed the Capitol. The committee is manipulating evidence and has refused to consider the offer of a leader of the Oath Keepers to testify under oath -- with the proviso that he be able to testify live, so they can't manipulate his testimony and make up things about him, as they have done to others.
Backward: to my visit to South Africa, which made the same mistakes 20 years ago that America is making today: failing to invest in power generation and using government investigative bodies to eliminate political opposition.
Backward: to my old home state of Illinois, where the governor is causing for more gun control despite the abject failure of the strictest rules in a liberal community on July 4th. No law can eliminate evil or the need for vigilance.
Forward: to the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential elections -- from Iowa. Yes, I was able to make it to the Hawkeye State this week, and I interviewed two Republicans who are building towards a hoped-for red wave.
Special guests:
Zach Nunn -- Iowa legislator and candidate for Congress in IA-03
Tom Cotton -- Senator from Arkansas and possible presidential contender
Avi Jorisch -- author forging ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors
Listen: 7-10 p.m. EDT, SiriusXM 125
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
