This week's portion, in addition to the reading for Passover, discusses the aftermath of the death of Aaron's sons. God, through Moses, lays out the process for atonement on Yom Kippur, followed by a list of sexual prohibitions.
It is telling that Aaron's profound personal grief at losing two of his four sons in the midst of the Tabernacle service is turned into a motivation for repentance among the nation as a whole, as well as for basic rules of sexual morality.
In that sense, Aaron's profound loss represents a national gain -- and the dread that surrounds the fate of his sons motivates what is an appropriate sense of fear and awe around the law, atonement, and the presence of sin in our lives.
This portion, one of the shortest, repeats the terms of the covenant: do good, and receive reward; do evil, and receive punishment. The Torah makes clear that this applies to individuals: it cautions against rationalizing sin.
Deuteronomy 29:18 says: "When he hears the words of this oath, he may bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I will enjoy peace of mind even if I follow my heart’s illusions.’ As a result, God will add the punishment for his 'drunk' (unintentional) sins to the punishment for his 'thirsty' (intentional) sins."
The punishment for sin is one thing; the punishment for excusing oneself from the moral rules is that you are punished even for inadvertent sins.
The lesson: don't try to make up an independent morality, separate from the one God provides to the people. If you could ever do such a thing, you'd be so great that you'd be worthy of being punished for even inadvertent sins.
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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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