I've said before (as recently as last weekend) that Trump remained the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024. The disastrous dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes did not "prove" that Trump is a bigot, because his record shows otherwise, but he clearly is not exercising his best judgment.
The primary process will sort some of this out. It will either produce a candidate who replaces Trump -- but without his enthusiastic following; or it will produce a weakened nominee in Trump who cannot win a general election, and who hurts the party along the way. There is also the distant possibility that a non-Trump candidate brings along the Trump base. Ron DeSantis has the best shot, if he runs; Nikki Haley will try, and she is, at least, not bashing Trump right now.
But here is the bigger picture. Trump showed the Republican Party how to win, how to expand its appeal, and how to govern effectively. The party lacks another leader. He is weakened, meaning the party is confused and somewhat chaotic.
That means there are huge challenges ahead. But the mess is also an opportunity for conservatives to examine what it is that they truly believe. And though Trump's victory in 2016 created a mystique that is hard to shake off, it is far better to sort through conservatism in the wake of that victory than it would have been had he lost that election and left a smug establishment in charge.
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
