This week's Torah portion tells the story of how Moses struck the rock to release water, rather than speaking to it as God had commanded him to do (Numbers 20: 10-12).
The Torah's emphasis here is on the principle that leaders have to set an example. Moreover, they should strive to inspire those that they lead, rather than admonishing them. Moses not only struck the rock, but scolded the people -- who, after all, were simply thirsty, a condition in which no one is at their best.
The additional reading (the Haftarah) is the incredible story of Yiftach (Jephthah) in Judges 11, an outsider rejected by the community, who turns out to be the only person capable of saving it -- but whose personal flaws also created a new crisis for him.
Does that sound like anyone we know?
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/default_cdo/jewish/Torah-Portion.htm
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 ...
