This week's portion deals with a variety of subjects, including the Nazirite vow (hence the additional reading, from the Book of Judges, tells the story of Samson, the most famous and tragic Nazirite ascetic in the Bible).
The portion also discusses the Sotah ceremony for determining if a woman has committed adultery. This is obviously problematic from a contemporary, feminist point of view, and is one of the deeper mysteries of the Torah.
I have just completed my first study of the Talmud's tractate on Sotah, and it includes many insights into both the ceremony and the ideas behind it. Though the woman is subject to the ritual, it only "works" if her husband is blameless.
In that sense it is a test of both the husband and the wife. The Talmud also explains that the reason for having such a difficult ordeal in cases of adultery is to emphasize the importance and depth of the marital relationship.
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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Call: 866-957-2874
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 ...
