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 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.
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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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