Today, while driving underneath the 10 freeway along Centinela Ave -- the dividing line between Santa Monica in the west and L.A. to the east -- I noticed an interesting outcome of the different in local enforcement of vagrancy laws.
On the right (west) side, as you drive south, there is just a clear sidewalk. And on the left (east) side, there is a row of tents, where homeless people live. The reason they are all on the L.A. side is that L.A. does not enforce the laws. (The Santa Monica sidewalk also looked as if it had been recently washed.)
Dennis Prager's Prager U happened to come out with a new podcast today about precisely this issue. The fact that some cities -- with liberal leaders -- are capable of enforcing the laws, and others are unwilling, shows it can be done.
Homelessness in L.A. is not, primarily, a problem of the lack of housing. It is about drugs, mental illness, and the benefit of better weather and weaker law enforcement. The one thing that does NOT work is to indulge the problem.
https://www.prageru.com/video/what-do-we-do-about-the-homeless/
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
