This week’s portion describes the ritual of the sacrificial offering by the High Priest (Kohen Gadol) in detail. Honestly, this is not one of the portions I find particularly interesting, but to the rabbis of the Talmud, it was absolutely essential. It was the primary way through which humans could atone for sin and connect to God.
In the Talmudic era, a few centuries after the destruction of the Second Temple and the Roman exile from Israel, it was important to document the ritual in detail both as a historic record of the Temple service, and as a preparation for the arrival of the Messiah, who would bring back the exiles and rebuild the Temple.
This Sabbath is also known as Shabbat HaGadol, the “Big Sabbath,” which always precedes Passover, the festival of liberation. The additional reading, from Jeremiah, declares: “Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, nor the strong man boast of his strength, nor the rich man boast of his riches. But let him that boasts exult in this, that he understands and knows me, for I am the Lord Who practices kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” (9: 22-23)
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2492715&jewish=Tzav-Torah-Reading.htm&p=complete
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 ...
