A thought occurred to me while I was snorkeling in the Red Sea yesterday, watching a magnificent and enormous blue triggerfish digging through the stones on the sea floor by a coral reef.
The reef itself, in Eilat, is protected by buoys, to keep snorkelers and scuba divers away -- not that they want to damage the reef, but they can do so accidentally. Reefs are extremely vulnerable.
It occurred to me that it takes a lot of effort to preserve something like that, and the motivation to do so comes from a sense of ownership. We protect what we own, what we consider ours.
Israelis feel they own their country. That leads to some rather intense fights, but it also creates a strong social bond. Most of all, it means they are prepared to defend it and sacrifice for it.
Americans are willing to sacrifice for our country. But we don't act like we own it. That's how we have arrived at a situation in which our government lets millions of people in illegally and nothing is done.
We tell ourselves that the essence of being American is the creed of the Constitution. But is that what people are really willing to die for? Or is it (was it) a sense that this is something that belongs to us?
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 ...
