I traveled from Dubai to Abu Dhabi yesterday to return to the Abrahamic Family House, a fascinating complex that combines a church, a mosque, and the first synagogue in the United Arab Emirates. I wanted to see how it felt, after October 7: I had paid my first visit in September, when peace was at hand.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover the same serenity and tolerance. There are differences, but they are handled quietly, albeit honestly and frankly.
Jews and Jewish leaders who I spoke to told me that aside from some initial tensions, they continue to feel safe and welcome in the UAE -- safer, they say, than in many Western capitals. Anti-Israel protests are not tolerated.
I must put in a word for the Emirati rulers, and perhaps for monarchy in general. When benevolent, there really is no better form of government, as Aristotle once observed. (How to keep it benevolent is where the problem lies.)
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 ...
