It's a busy weekend -- I know there's football to watch, but the political world is also ablaze.
Three U.S. soldiers were killed today -- along with 12 wounded -- by and Iran-backed militia in the latest example of Biden's foreign policy failures.
The Republican Party presidential primary is all but won -- or is it? Nikki Haley is still in the race.
Meanwhile, Biden and the Democrats are trying to force through a so-called "border security" bill that is meant to help them get thru the election but won't stop migrants from getting thru the border.
In the latest case of "Trump was right," Biden has been forced to cut funding to UNRWA, the special Palestinian refugee agency. Trump cut the funding in 2019 -- but Biden restored it in 2021. And then UNRWA employees went on to join Palestinian terrorists in the Oct. 7 attack.
Plus -- some good news from Canada: a court has ruled the Trudeau exceeded his powers in the crackdown on the truckers' protests.
We'll talk about all of this -- and more -- in a live edition tonight.
Special guests:
Emma-Jo Morris - Breitbart News political editor, on 2020/border
Dr. Anthony Harper - Christian news reporter, on the UNRWA funding
Ezra Levant - Rebel News Network CEO, on the Trudeau decision
Richard Goldberg - Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on Iran
Jerome Hudson - Breitbart News entertainment editor, on Oscars
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
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
