Today is the second day of Rosh Hashanah, in the new year 5784 -- and it's the same as the first, for the most part, except today the shofar will be sounded.
In addition, many communities will perform the traditional ceremony of Tashlich, in which people walk to a body of water containing fish, and throw bread crumbs into the water, representing the idea that we are tossing away our sins. This is normally done on the first day, except when it falls on the Sabbath.
The Torah reading is the story of the binding of Isaac by Abraham, which reminds us of the depths of Abraham's faith, and his connection to God.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?tdate=9/17/2023&p=complete
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 ...
