It's been an incredibly strong start to the Trump administration. They are fighting all the good fights, and Democrats are on the back foot -- though they seem to think filing lawsuits will pull them through, as it did last time.
We'll talk to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy about the California high-speed rail boondoggle, and the upcoming audit of federal spending on it. It's a microcosm of failure in California governance that must be urgently fixed.
Next, we will get a recap of CPAC from our own political editor, Matthew Boyle, and review some of the progress made by the administration on key issues for conservatives, as well as on the "America First" foreign policy front.
We'll also take a look at the prospects of long-term conservative projects, such as the Convention of States. And we'll speak with an Israeli diplomat to discuss what's next in negotiations with Hamas -- after so much heartache last week.
Special guests:
Sean Duffy -- Secretary of Transportation, former member of Congress
Matt Boyle -- Breitbart News political editor, on CPAC and future prospects
Mark Meckler -- Convention of States, on conservative constitutional efforts
Anat Sultan-Dadon -- Israeli counsel general in Atlanta, on hostage deals
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 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
