This week's Torah portion describes, in detail, the instruction for crafting the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle in which to house it. Precious metals, jewels, thread, woodwork -- everything.
Similarly, the additional reading, or Haftarah (Kings I 5:26 - 6:13), recounts the process of building the Holy Temple under King Solomon, and the various ornaments that were added to it.
This is a rich description of beauty -- natural beauty as shaped by Divine design and human artifice. It's one of the most spectacular portions of the Torah. But why did it have to be so detailed?
The answer, I think, has to do with love. When a man loves a woman (or, I suppose, when anyone loves anyone), and has feelings of desire, he wants to explore every detail, every facet of her physical being.
In the same way, the physical manifestation of God's presence among the Israelites is to be detailed, so that the people can express their love through the minute, elaborate, and beautiful physicality of art.
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
- The state of the economy
- The fight against crime
- The midterm election fight
- The struggle for peace between Russia and Ukraine
- The airstrike on the Venezuelan drug cartel
- The attempt to sink Kennedy
- The war in Gaza
- The case against Harvard
- The Trump presidency
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This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
