This week's Torah reading explains the duties of the Levite families in the holy service of the Tabernacle; outlines the law of punishing adultery; and provides the laws of the Nazirite, a special category of ascetics, among other laws.
The additional reading, from Judges 13:2-25, is the story of Samson. He is a Nazirite for life, from birth, and has superhuman strength. His one weakness appears to be his desire for Philistine women -- not a carnal desire, as such, but a yearning that is deeper than mere physical pleasure. He is drawn to them.
He overcomes his desires through an act of self-destructive repentance -- which takes the Philistines with him. That is a story for another day, perhaps.
But it does point to the importance of the region of Gaza to the Biblical story -- and the fact that it has posed problems for the people of Israel since the days of the Bible until today. Perhaps there are insights for us in that ancient drama.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2495720&jewish=Naso-Torah-Reading.htm&p=complete
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 ...
