This week's portion contains the rules for bringing the first fruits to the Temple, and for tithing. Most famously, it includes a lengthy discussion of the blessings for obeying God -- and, ominously, the curses that await for disobeying him.
It is custom in many synagogues to read the curses quietly and quickly, as opposed to in the loud, melodious way Torah verses are usually chanted during the reading. We don't want to obsess over what might happen if things are bad.
There's a lesson in that: you acknowledge the risks of failure, but don't obsess over them. Keep the good choices, and their payoffs, in mind, because what we think about tends to manifest itself in our lives. Our minds have great power.
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 ...
