This double portion covers the ceremony for the annual Day of Atonement (including the sacrifice of the scapegoat, literally a goat upon whom the people's sins are place, and that is then sent away).
It also includes a series of everyday prohibitions, including sexual prohibitions (including homosexuality) -- rules that the people were said, according to legend, to mourn, once they learned about them.
Some rules seem quite contrary to nature, or at least to the deep taboos that seem to be almost instinctive. Others are less so. The people understood they would have to develop restraint themselves.
The Torah thus connects private morality with public destiny -- for the private sins of the people, it warns, could lead to the loss of the land. This is a heavy moral burden, with which each must wrestle.
There is also the rule about treating the "stranger" well -- a passage that is frequently cited to argue that illegal migrants should be welcomed to the country, rather than arrested or deported.
But the "stranger" in the Biblical text does not merely live among the people; he "sojourns" there, with the implication being that he obeys the laws of the people (which is the problem re: illegal immigration).
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
