It's the final show before Election Day, and we're going to enjoy it. I love the feel of election season -- the crispness in the air, the early darkness setting in, the end of Daylight Savings Time, which raises the curtain on political drama.
Nature is playing a role, as it always does. In 2020, on the eve of Election Day, the midwestern skies were lit up with a reddish glow, the result of a rare weather phenomenon. Trump lost, but Republicans beat polls nationwide.
This time, the moon will set on the morning of Election Day in the redness of a lunar eclipse. It is the perfect way to herald a possible red wave -- or even a red tsunami, as polls (if you can believe them) shift in the Republicans' direction.
Our show will focus on the Breitbart News angle to all of this -- with one exception: we will welcome Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, the official Republican nominee against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R).
We'll talk about all the factors that have defined the midterm election, what will define the government that results, and what will shape the future, as politicians are already jockeying for positions in Congress and the 2024 presidential race.
Guests:
Emma-Jo Morris - Breitbart News politics editor -- on the midterm picture
John Carney - Breitbart News financial editor -- on the economic factors
John Binder - Breitbart News immigration reporter -- on the border crisis
Colin Madine - Breitbart News tech editor -- on the social media environment
Jerome Hudson - Breitbart News entertainment editor -- on the culture war
Ken Klukowski - Breitbart News legal editor -- on the big constitutional issues
Kelly Tshibaka - Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska
Tune in: SiriusXM Patrio 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-17 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
