Experts talk about a Saudi-Israeli peace as if it will end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Perhaps it will, in a religious sense. But the real peace will be Lebanese-Israeli.
The Lebanese people and the Israeli people have much in common -- especially a love of Levantine culture, and the unique mix of modernity and tradition that make places like Tel Aviv and Beirut so cosmopolitan and yet so traditional at the same time. Only outside forces have kept these two peoples from peace.
My late great-aunt, Chaya, used to reminisce about taking a taxi from Tel Aviv to Beirut on the weekends in the 1930s and 1940s to party -- Jews, Arabs, Christians, Muslims. That connection is dormant but it will emerge -- one day.
When Iran has receded; when the hatred of Israel has been driven out of what we consider elite culture; when terrorism has been defeated; then Israel and Lebanon will share friendship. It is not impossible. We may even see it, soon.
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 ...
