Israeli legal scholar Amnon Rubinstein passed away Thursday at the age of 92.
https://guidetotheperplexed.blogspot.com/2007/06/29-junehttpwww.html
I met him in the summer of 2007, when I was working for a left-wing Israeli civil rights organization and questioning just about everything I believed.
I traveled from Jerusalem to Herzliya to meet him at the Interdisciplinary Center, where he had an office inside a prefab building on the campus, which was once a kibbutz.
Rubinstein was a peacenik and civil rights activist who became aware, early on, that the radical left was using civil rights to push crazy things that would ultimately undermine everyone's freedom, starting with Israel and the Jews.
He wrote several articles at the time in which he sounded the warning -- and while not everyone may have heard it, I was listening.
I'm sad that he has passed away, but more than that, I'm glad he lived and did what he did.
I continue to fall in love with the people of Israel -- so beautiful, so resilient, so maddeningly complex and yet so simple.
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
