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 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
