This week's portion begins with the law of the "first fruits," which farmers are required to bring to the Holy Temple as a donation and sacrifice. The law is given to the people of Israel as they are about to cross the Jordan River.
The bulk of the portion is devoted to describing the blessing on the one hand, and the curse on the other, that the Torah says will be the consequence of following, or not following, God's commandments. Cause and effect.
There is an interesting section in which the task of reciting the blessing and the curse is divided among the tribes, with half reciting the blessings, and the other half reciting the curses, as they stand on opposing mountaintops.
This form of re-enactment, including the task of representing an idea with which you may not agree, is a familiar pedagogical tool from law school -- and it's interesting to see it used thousands of years ago, in Deuteronomy.
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 ...
