This week's reading covers the various implements and practices of the priesthood, which is handed down from Aaron to his sons and their descendants (the Cohanim), who still bless Jews today.
There is an extra reading that is linked to the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim -- a selection from Deuteronomy that exhorts the people to remember the evil done by the nation of Amalek.
The connection to Purim is that Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther who tried to destroy the Jewish people, is thought to be a descendant of Amalek -- whom King Saul declined to eliminate.
The additional reading from the Prophets comes from I Samuel 15:1-34, and recalls the sin committed by Saul when he declined to execute the king of Amalek, perhaps showing mercy as a fellow royal.
On this Sabbath -- the Sabbath preceding Purim -- we are always commanded both to remember Amalek and to remove Amalek from memory. This seemingly contradictory command is hard to reconcile.
As with the Nazis -- who had to be destroyed, even as we remember them in Holocaust museums -- the story of Amalek is a story about the persistence of evil even in a word created by a God who is Good.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
