Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you -- and I hope your Sunday is as good as mine has been. We have lots of news to talk about -- at home and abroad.
The primaries are wrapped up -- so Trump is going to get intelligence briefings (he was supposed to have been getting them already?). Democrats are using that to attack him -- and they have a new hoax: the claim that he called for a "bloodbath" if he loses in November (but he was actually talking about cars!).
Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden launched an extraordinary attack on Israel, in a week when Biden waived $10 billion in sanctions on Iran, and slapped sanctions on Israel, amid reports of "slow-walking" ammunition. What's going on?
Then we have more on St. Patrick's Day, immigration, the environment... just about anything you can think of. Oh, and March Madness is finally here. Can you be bothered with a bracket in the one part of sports not ruined by politics?
Special guests:
Matthew Boyle -- Breitbart News D.C. editor
Rich Goldberg -- Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Dylan Gwinn - Breitbart News sports editor
Neil Munro -- Breitbart News immigration editor
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
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
