The 2024 election has begun, with the presumptive nominees in both parties already fighting with each other.
President Joe Biden attacked former President Donald Trump over January 6th on Friday, throwing in some old attack lines as well. None of them worked, except the point about Trump just being out for himself.
You know what? He might be. But it doesn't matter, nor do Trump's offensive comments.
That's because nothing Trump did or said (or does or says) has anything to do with the fact that Biden has failed to secure the border, and is allowing millions of people to enter illegally.
That's it. That's the whole election, to me.
Allowing -- even encouraging -- mass migration means changing the electorate one day. It means changing national culture today. It means higher crime and squalor in many of our major cities.
Some immigrants will be hard-working and contribute to our society. But they failed the first test: they failed to arrive legally. We do not want people here who break the laws. It's a pretty good filter.
Moreover, we're seeing the results of mass immigration, both illegal and legal, on our college campuses. The anti-Israel radicalism and antisemitism is relatively new to the U.S., and much of it is imported.
As a Jewish citizen, I feel I have no control of who enters America anymore, even as we bring millions of people from the Arab and Muslim world who have been indoctrinated to hate Israel -- and me.
If there is one reason to consider emigrating to Israel, it is not that antisemitism has reached such terrible levels -- we are not there yet -- but that Israel controls its own boundaries (however imperfectly).
I believe in America. So I'm a one-issue voter. As Trump says, if you don't have a border, you don't have a country. Four more years of Biden will weaken this country and make it more unsafe for Jews.
I find the rest of the debate fairly uninteresting, especially because Biden isn't even trying to scale back the problem. He can't, because he relies on the extreme left. So there really is only one choice.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
