Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot became a symbol of "progressive" misgovernance and intolerance. So when Chicago voters ousted her in the primary earlier this year, reform seemed to be in the air.
The hero: Paul Vallas, the 1990s-era CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, placed there by the corrupt but effective Mayor Richard Daley. Vallas is the latest in a long line of white liberal reformers.
Unfortunately, he was no more successful than his predecessors. He lost to Brandon Johnson -- a "defund the police" advocate and teachers' union organizer who is even further left than Lightfoot.
The city is basically done. Wealthy people and businesses, especially in real estate, are going to leave the city rather than face a slew of new taxes. The unions, which have destroyed schools, will rule.
And crime, which has skyrocketed out of control, will continue to be a terrible scourge. Millions of Chicagoans will continue to vote with their feet, as they have for two decades, moving to red states.
I used to live in the Chicago area. I left for ... California. It's run only slightly better than Illinois, and L.A. is a bit less dysfunctional. But it has weather, and a sense of freedom, even with taxes and rules.
The problem with socialism is that once it takes over a democratic system, it is nearly impossible to remove. It is the choice that ends all choices. But it is a temptation that may be impossible to resist.
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
