The video of the killing of Tyre Nichols in a confrontation with police is set to be released, and the nation is bracing for another wave of protests and riots. One problem with the "Black Lives Matter" narrative: all 5 officers charged are black.
Still, it's clear that aside from the justifiable outrage at this incident, there is an effort to politicize it again. I wonder who President Joe Biden will blame this time, after claiming in 2020 that the racial unrest was President Trump's fault?
Hopefully there won't actually be riots, and the protests will be peaceful. I must say that I question the wisdom of releasing a video like this on a Friday night, before a weekend when people have time to riot. (Rain is expected, though).
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).
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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 ...