I was briefly in New York on Thursday to attend the wedding of a good friend at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, the international headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement and the home of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous and blessed memory.
It was my second wedding at 770, which is a popular site for religious weddings, given the auspicious nature of the location. It also rained at the last wedding I attended at 770... which I take as a sign of good luck, but may be a hint that you should not invite me to your wedding if you're planning on holding it outdoors.
It's a special place, in a special community; it has changed the lives of millions of people, and of nations... and yet it's quite humble, in an ordinary neighborhood of ordinary people, with ordinary struggles, and an extraordinary tradition that somehow connects them to things that transcend, and anchor, and endure.
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
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
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 ...
