After watching the 7th public hearing of the January 6th Committee, I'm so disgusted by their manipulation of evidence, their abuse of witnesses, their denial of due process, and their outright lies that I've concluded the only honorable course of action left for a witness is to resist and accept jail time.
As you know, if you've followed me for long enough, I opposed the January 6 rally; I considered the election neither free nor fair, NOR fraudulent, and congratulated Joe Biden when he won the Electoral College; yet I consider this Inquisition a grotesque abuse of civil liberties that will do lasting damage.
There is precedent, in the noble tradition of the civil rights movement, to be prepared to accept imprisonment as the penalty for disobeying an unjust law. That, I believe, is what future witnesses hauled before the committee must be prepared to face. It is a hard choice, but it is also the only moral choice.
I'm not giving legal advice here, nor am I judging those who have testified already. Probably, they imagine that because no one takes these hearings seriously anyway, it does not matter. But it does. The rules of due process are the glue that holds our society together. It is worth self-sacrifice to save them.
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
