I’m quite happy to be where I am, doing what I’m doing. I don’t want anyone to think (as some have done, mistakenly, before) that I wrote what I do because of some other personal ambition.
But I do have some ideas about how things ought to be done. And I’ve learned the hard way that in America, it’s best to be clear about what you want to achieve, rather than hoping people will notice.
So, with that… if I were in the Trump 2.0 administration, what would I want to do, and why?
1. U.S. ambassador to Israel - There is no shortage of good candidates, but what I would bring to the job is a record of thinking about how to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians. With a president committed to the “deal of the century,” I think it would be possible to lay the foundations.
2. White House press secretary - Generally, I do think it’s better handled by a woman than a man, as Trump seems to believe. But I enjoy the cut and thrust of daily debate, and I would challenge the assumptions behind many of the questions. I’d also introduce a prayer to the briefings (see below).
3. White House faith director - they will probably give this to a pastor, and appropriately so. But I would like to introduce a moment of quiet reflection to the White House briefings, as an example for the rest of the country. I’d also arrange for a rotation of faith leaders to offer a weekly national sermon.
4. Antisemitism czar - I’ve been engaged in the fight against antisemitism my whole life, and I think I’d bring some fresh ideas to the role. I’d focus on the importance of George Washington’s promise to the Jews of early America that they would never have to live in fear in their new country, as they did before.
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
