This week's portion tells the story of the rebellion of Korach against Moses. The rebellion follows the episode of the spies, when the Israelites were barred from entering the Holy Land and were sentenced, in effect, to 40 years of wandering in the desert.
The rebellion ends in disaster, with God intervening on behalf of Moses, and expressing His frustration with the disloyalty of the people. He concludes by describing the tithes to Aaron and his sons, who are the priests, in effect affirming that there is some delegation of power from Moses to others, but emphasizing that it is limited to God's chosen messengers.
What is interesting about this is that Korach is not erased from Jewish history: his incense pans overlay the altar, and his sons have several Psalms dedicated to them.
There is something holy, and salvageable, even in this act of defiance -- some repentance, or perhaps some pure motive, at the core of what would have been, if successful, a disaster.
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 ...
