This week's Torah reading is very dramatic. It covers Jacob's wrestling with an angel; the fateful reunion between Jacob and Esau, the story of the rape of Dinah by Caananites, and the death of Rachel with the birth of Benjamin.
My favorite of these is the wrestling match. Jacob wrestles with an angel, with God, and also with himself. He is wounded, but earns a new identity: "Israel." This means "strives with God." It defines the essence of faith as a struggle.
The story of the rape of Dinah is a difficult one. Simeon and Levi take revenge on the local townspeople, tricking them into mass circumcision and then killing them. Jacob worries that this act will turn the peoples of the land against him.
But the opposite happens, in fact: the staunch defense of their only sister makes the people of the land fear and respect Jacob, who becomes respected and remains unbothered by the local population after the violent episode.
Here we have two classic positions on dealing with antisemitism: one suggests accommodation and persuasion, while the other suggests fighting hard. It is not always clear which is the best option, but it's a reminder that this is an old issue.
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 ...
