I'm watching President Biden's speech at the United Nations. Right now he's supposedly "defending democracy," which is his way of reciting Democratic Party talking points against his domestic opposition. But I'm more interested in his remarks about Russia, which are strident but don't seem open to diplomacy.
This is the United Nations -- the very forum in which nations were meant to work out their differences so that conflict could be avoided. Biden is saying a lot of good things about the need to deter aggression, to protect smaller nations, and so on, but he's not using the forum to call for talks to stop war in Ukraine.
Not only is this the right place, but it would also be the right time. Ukraine has regained leverage with a successful counteroffensive in the Donbas, and Russia is about to escalate the conflict with a mobilization of its civilian population in the war effort. Now is the time to talk: it is an urgent yet advantageous point.
Yet I hear nothing about talks from Biden: "It's Russia's war, and only Russia can end it." So the U.S. policy is not, as Biden declared when he took office that "diplomacy is back," but rather to isolate, punish, and threaten Russia in the hope it will give up, or that there will be internal political change. Is that wise?
This is my first broadcast from the new office and studio in Washington, DC, where I'll be for a couple of years my neighborhood back in L.A. cleans up -- and as we follow the Trump administration from a little closer up than usual.
Topics:
- The anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump
- The escalating tariff battle with various different trading partners
- The future of the Middle East peace talks, and ongoing antisemitism
- The Jeffrey Epstein files and whether they mean anything at all
- The continued crisis of the Texas floods, and stories of heroism and survival
And more!
Special guests:
- James Rosen - Newsmax chief Washington correspondent
- Bob Price - Breitbart News Texas reporter, on the ongoing floods
- Robert Cahill - Trafalgar Polling, on a new alliance of reliable pollsters
- Rabbi Yaakov Menken - Coalition for Jewish Values - on Israel & antisemitism
Tune in: 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week’s portion tells the grand story of the prophet who tried to curse people of Israel and instead ended up blessing them.
I am reminded that these portions continue to be relevant anew, as this particular reading lent the title for Israel’s recent 12 Day War against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
This week's portion includes the commandment of the red heifer -- one of the classic "irrational" commandments whose fulfillment is an expression of faith. It also includes the regrettable episode in which Moses strikes the rock.
I referred to this story in a wedding speech last night. Why was Moses punished for striking the rock in Numbers, when he struck the rock without incident in Exodus -- both for the purpose of providing water to the people?
The answer is that in the interim, the Jewish people had received the Torah, which is like the marriage contract between the people of Israel and God. In a marriage, you do not resolve things by breaking boundaries, but through love.
The additional reading, from Judges Chapter 11, is the story of Jephthah (Yiftach), a man whom the leaders spurn, but to whom they must turn to save the nation. The parallels to our present political circumstances are striking.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
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