There's a big fuss over Trump's recent comments about suspending the Constitution, which he walked back somewhat. But here are my thoughts.
1. Is Joe Biden upholding the Constitution? No.
2. Could President Trump override the Constitution? No.
3. You can understand the sentiment behind his statement: in most areas of life, if a process is unfair, the aggrieved party can ask for a do-over, or for the results to be set aside. Trump's reaction is ... sort of normal.
4. The Constitution does not prevent fraud.
The latter point is the most important. Our Constitution was designed to accept fraudulent election results! The much-maligned Electoral College is a way for leaders to deliberate about disputed results and come up with a plan to move forward. On three occasions -- Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Richard Nixon -- a candidate has been cheated out of the presidency. The remedy? They run again, and win, the next time they have the chance.
Trump decided not to wait until 2024 and to use mass protest in January 2021 -- the way it had been used against him in May 2020 -- to make his stand. That was the wrong choice, and so he -- and we -- live with the consequences.
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
