Tina Turner passed away today at the age of 83. I loved her music and was touched by her influence on popular culture.
Last month, I stayed at the Lorenzo Hotel in Dallas -- the second year in a row I had done so -- for my daughter's trip to the world robotics championships. It was the hotel to which Tina had fled from her talented but abusive husband, Ike, when their split began to emerge. She survived that and went on to become a star in her own right.
When I lived in South Africa, I had a girlfriend who was an actress, singer, and dancer. She was briefly engaged to perform a stage show at a local casino. Her big number was "Proud Mary" and she did it in Turner's style -- tassels and all.
It remains one of the sexiest numbers in rock and roll, rhythm and blues, whatever you want to call it. We have missed her presence in public life these last few years, and it's a mournful day. But her music will never be forgotten.
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 ...
