In this week's portion, Moses recounts the essence of the Covenant between God and the People of Israel, which they are to obey as they enter the land.
He reminds them that he is to be punished by not entering the land -- though God will show him the entire Land of Israel before he dies. Similarly, Moses tells the people about the End of Days -- the whole sweep of history until the time of redemption -- knowing that his immediate audience will not witness it.
This portion is accompanied by an additional reading, or Haftarah, from Isaiah chapter 40: "Be comforted, be comforted, my people." It is the first of a series of readings of comfort after the agony of Tisha B'Av. As we look toward the Jewish New Year in just over six weeks or so, we begin to prepare ourselves -- and to savor the opportunity for repentance and renewal, as well as simply the chance to enjoy the beautiful world that God created for us to share.
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 ...
