Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah -- it's the last pre-holiday show!
We've made it through an odd budget fight, and now we have to figure out what happens next. Will this be the end for Speaker Mike Johnson? Will it portend ill for the Trump agenda? Or is this the beginning of draining the swamp, for real?
We'll also talk about the exclusion of Trump voters (or even skeptical Democrats) from the LGBTQ+ world -- a practice of cancelation that continues even in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election.
We'll discuss an organization that funds search and rescue equipment for a reserve unit in the IDF. We'll explore how California Democrats appear to have stolen (legally) a congressional seat using methods illegal in other states.
And we'll talk about one of the remaining anti-Trump cases -- the so-called "fake electors" case in Nevada, which still remains even after a Georgia appellate court kicked DA Fani Willis off a similar case this past week.
Special guests:
Yuval David -- LGBTQ+ activist, Jewish activist, and new Trump voter
Zoe Marks -- YUTAR representative in New York, in IDF search & rescue
Shawn Steel - CA GOP committeeman, on Democrats stealing CA seats
Sam Mirejovsky -- legal expert, on the Nevada "fake electors" case
Tune in: 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call in: 866-957-2874
This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
