This week's portion includes the most emotionally poignant moment of the entire Bible (in my view): the reunion of Joseph and his brothers, a moment so intense that Joseph has to banish his courtiers because he cannot restrain his emotions. It is the climactic moment of the greatest story ever told.
Notably, this moment comes about because Judah, the leader of the brothers, shows that they have repented for selling Joseph into slavery -- at Judah's own suggestion -- 22 years before by pleading that he himself be taken as a slave in place of Benjamin, who is also Joseph's fully biological brother.
There is a lovely commentary on the story that notes that Jacob was convinced to believe Joseph was still alive when he saw the wagons that had been sent from Egypt to collect him. In Hebrew, the word for "wagon" and "calf" are similar. The wagons were an allusion to a Jewish law about a calf sacrifice.
This sacrifice was done as an atonement for the community when a dead body was discovered but no killer or cause could be identified. The community itself would hold itself liable for failing to protect the individual. In that sense, though Joseph was not, in fact, dead, it was relevant to the story of his disappearance.
According to the Sages, the law of the "eglah arufah" was the last piece of Torah that Jacob and Joseph had studied together before the latter was sold into slavery (the commentators believe that the Torah was studied by the Patriarchs before it was given at Sinai). Hence Jacob was convinced his son was alive.
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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