This Friday (and, outside of Israel, Saturday) marks the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, or Pentecost, which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The tradition is to stay up all night, studying various aspects of Torah.
I recently began studying the "Mishneh Torah" of Maimonides, his attempt to organize Jewish practice and thought in a categorial, rational way. It is an astonishing intellectual achievement and has already inspired me significantly.
One of the first sections is about prophecy. Maimonides spends a lot of time explaining how to recognize a true prophet -- no doubt because Judaism in the Middle Ages found itself under pressure from both Christianity and Islam.
Without, at least in this section, challenging either of those two religions, Maimonides explains the basis for Jews' continued faith in the original Torah, delivered by Moses at Sinai: we were witnesses to it ourselves, with Moses.
"What is the source of our belief in him? The [revelation] at Mount Sinai. Our eyes saw, and not a stranger's. Our ears heard, and not another's. ... Thus, those to whom [Moses] was sent witnessed [his appointment] as a prophet, and it was not necessary to perform another wonder for them. He and they were witnesses, like two witnesses who observed the same event together."
Hence the emphasis, on Shavuot, of reenacting the receiving of the Torah. Through study, we repeat the action of witnessing the revelation -- not just of the Ten Commandments, and of the written law, but also of the Oral Law, which Moses was taught on Sinai and later transmitted to the people.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/904992/jewish/Yesodei-haTorah-Chapter-Eight.htm
This is my first broadcast from the new office and studio in Washington, DC, where I'll be for a couple of years my neighborhood back in L.A. cleans up -- and as we follow the Trump administration from a little closer up than usual.
Topics:
- The anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump
- The escalating tariff battle with various different trading partners
- The future of the Middle East peace talks, and ongoing antisemitism
- The Jeffrey Epstein files and whether they mean anything at all
- The continued crisis of the Texas floods, and stories of heroism and survival
And more!
Special guests:
- James Rosen - Newsmax chief Washington correspondent
- Bob Price - Breitbart News Texas reporter, on the ongoing floods
- Robert Cahill - Trafalgar Polling, on a new alliance of reliable pollsters
- Rabbi Yaakov Menken - Coalition for Jewish Values - on Israel & antisemitism
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This week’s portion tells the grand story of the prophet who tried to curse people of Israel and instead ended up blessing them.
I am reminded that these portions continue to be relevant anew, as this particular reading lent the title for Israel’s recent 12 Day War against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
This week's portion includes the commandment of the red heifer -- one of the classic "irrational" commandments whose fulfillment is an expression of faith. It also includes the regrettable episode in which Moses strikes the rock.
I referred to this story in a wedding speech last night. Why was Moses punished for striking the rock in Numbers, when he struck the rock without incident in Exodus -- both for the purpose of providing water to the people?
The answer is that in the interim, the Jewish people had received the Torah, which is like the marriage contract between the people of Israel and God. In a marriage, you do not resolve things by breaking boundaries, but through love.
The additional reading, from Judges Chapter 11, is the story of Jephthah (Yiftach), a man whom the leaders spurn, but to whom they must turn to save the nation. The parallels to our present political circumstances are striking.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
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