U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is perhaps the most pathetic figure in the entire Biden administration. He's a "Russia collusion" hoaxer who also commissioned the fake "intelligence" letter to suppress reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, and can't muster the strength to stand up to China, or anyone else -- except Israel.
Israel's apparent dependence on the U.S. for military funding and for munitions has encouraged Blinken and Democrats like him to think they can bludgeon Israel into accepting whatever they want -- to the point of ignoring the Middle East reality, which is not impressed by graduate school policy papers or consulting firm talking points.
Anyway -- Blinken went to Davos, to talk to Tom Friedman -- a "journalist" infamous for his expensive tastes, his total hypocrisy, and his belief that the only acceptable Israeli government is a left-wing one. Friedman went full antisemite a while back -- I know he's a Jew -- in attacking the "Jewish lobby" or some such. He's just a joke.
But in that environment, somehow, Blinken felt he could express his true self -- as if there were no reporters, as if he were just in a tight circle of friends. And he revealed: 1. He sees Israelis as the obstacle to peace, not Palestinians or the Arab world, even after Oct. 7; 2. He's committed to rewarding Hamas for terror with a Palestinian state.
I don't really have words for how insanely stupid these ideas are, but they are apparently what the world's elite love to hear. Which is a timely reminder that Israel's success is not a function of elite collusion but rather the outcome of a determined group of honest misfits who overcame idiocy of this kind from the establishment.
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
