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.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
