We're back this week, after airing a special Fourth of July edition last week.
The week ahead should be interesting. The Senate (not the House) is back in session, and the big issue remains Biden's infrastructure plan. It's not clear what the future of that plan will be, since the bipartisan deal struck last month was undermined by Biden's insistence on passing a separate bill, the so-called "American Families Plan," which includes all of the things Democrats could not force into the deal -- and which they will bypass the filibuster to pass, using the "reconciliation" process (which will produce the opposite of reconciliation).
We have growing fears of a resurgence of the coronavirus, with the Delta variant becoming the dominant strain in many states. Already, public health experts are calling for (looking forward to?) more restrictions, and as the Biden administration defends its policy of going door-to-door to encourage vaccination, some "experts" are even suggesting making the unvaccinated suffer for their decision not to take the shot. If conservatives are supposedly the most reluctant to be vaccinated, will that kind of pressure work? Probably not.
Then there is the issue of the January 6 commission, to which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may nominate five Republicans. I'm not sure that's a good idea, given that the Democrats include some of the most divisive and untrustworthy people in Congress -- such as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who led the first and second impeachment teams, respectively. But we'll take on the view of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who says that Republicans should play nice with the commission and dump Trump.
We'll welcome the following guests:
Desmond Lachman of AEI -- on Biden's spending plans, and inflation
Lt. Col. Dakota Wood of Heritage -- on Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan
Anthony Ruggiero of FDD - on Biden's attempt to revive the Iran deal
Kenny Xu, author of 'An Inconvenient Minority' -- on discrimination against Asian Americans
Jeff Brain of CloutHub -- to discuss Trump's lawsuit against Big Tech
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
