I recently had an experience that was right out of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I went to the doctor and had a new physician. After a through examination, he revealed that he and I had gone to college together.
I hadn’t recognized him, but when he told me his name, I remembered him. He was a friend of my roommate. I was somewhat embarrassed, given what goes down at the doctor’s office. But I shrugged it off.
He convinced me to attend my 25th reunion next year. I did not enjoy my 20th, because I felt that people were being rude for political reasons. My politics have changed a lot since college; some people don’t like it.
But maybe I am too sensitive to the prospect of embarrassment — of being publicly shamed for my views, or having an intimate medical exam from someone who knows me in a more public context.
One just has to live, I suppose. We are all human. And you can’t take yourself, or your politics, so seriously that it cuts you off from people or from your own life.
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
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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 ...
