This week's portion discusses the donations that God asked the Israelites to make for the construction of the Tabernacle and for all of the holy offerings.
God's instructions are very explicit; he wants the contributions to be offered in particular ways, and he wants the materials to be put together according to detailed instructions, and people are asked to give all that they can. This is in contrast to later community offerings, such as the half-shekel, which is the same for everyone and whose use is not prescribed in the same level of detail.
The lesson here is that sometimes we are asked to contribute generally; and sometimes we have very specific missions. It is hard to know which is which, but that is something we can only figure out by obeying, and by doing.
This Sabbath is also Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the new month -- the month of Adar, traditionally the happiest of the year. May it be so for all!
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 ...
