This week's portion is one of the most colorful in the Bible, telling the story of the evil king Balak and his attempts to hire the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Balaam is waylaid by his own donkey, who is miraculously able to talk. In the end, he praises the people of Israel rather than cursing them.
That much is familiar to many people. But there is a twist at the end: the people are corrupted through temptation, and they fornicate with the daughters of the Moabites. What armies and prophets could not do, the lustful women easily accomplished. The result is pain, suffering, plague -- and, eventually, violence.
Jewish philosophy wrestles with the question of lust. There is a famous episode in the Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin (link below), in which the people manage to imprison the desire to commit the sin of idolatry. Having succeeded in that effort, they try to imprison the sin of lust, and they are successful in doing so.
But then things begin to go wrong. Without lust, they discover, chickens stop laying eggs. It turns out that lust is part of the essential life-force that makes the world go around. So the people release lust from imprisonment, and they merely blind it, so that desires like incest disappear. As for the rest of them...
This week, we are tackling two major areas of contention between the Trump administration and Democrat governors: fighting crime, and redistricting. The president is sending the National Guard to blue cities -- and blue states are trying to stamp out Republican representation. Is this a civil war situation?
Special guests:
- Bradley Jaye -- Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on redistricting
- Tom Manza, California Business and Industrial Alliance, on Gavin Newsom
- Jon Fleischman, veteran California political expert, on the special election
- Dan Backer, veteran political lawyer and consultant, on corruption
- DJ Mark Anthony, on a recent visit to Rome and visiting Pope Leo XIV
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's portion is the last of the month of Av -- also known as Menachem (Comforter) Av -- which begins in mourning and ends in celebration and anticipation of the New Year and the process of repentance and renewal.
In a similar vein, the portion features Moses offering the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse. They are masters of their own fates: if they obey God's commandments, they receive the blessings -- and vice versa.
The key commandment is to reject idol worship. There is said to be something magnetic about the practice of worshiping idols in the new land, such that it would be constant moral battle, both individually and collectively, in the land.
Nowadays, according to Jewish tradition, humanity has lost the urge for idol worship (and the antidote, which is divine prophecy) -- but there are several near substitutes, such as lust or excessive appetites for worldly pleasures.
We are wired for compulsive behaviors, bad habits, and even addictions. These ...
We have so much to talk about this week -- Trump's efforts to negotiate peace through negotiation, and Gavin Newsom's efforts to divide Americans through gerrymandering. We'll also talk about Playboy leaving LA and California.
Special guests:
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Russia & Ukraine
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on Newsom
Harmeet Dhillon - DOJ Civil Rights Division chief, on the fight against DEI
Jessica Vaugn - Playboy model on political commentator, on California
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 PT
Call: 866-957-2874
