President Joe Biden and his administration were largely silent about Sunday's anti-communist protests in Cuba, the most extraordinary outpouring of pro-democracy sentiment in more than 60 years. The only response from the Biden administration came from a rather junior official who tweeted that the protests were about COVID deaths, and who urged Cubans to donate to each other.
Really.
The protests are political in nature, to the point where people have been marching openly with the American flag -- a banner that much of the Democratic Party today detests. Several conservatives have pointed out on Twitter that when truly oppressed people around the world march for freedom, they wave the American flag that our "woke" elites over here insult and disdain.
Even assuming, for argument's sake, that the Biden administration were right -- that the protest is about COVID -- it is a stunning failure for the left, which has praised Cuba for decades for its supposed medical advances. Cuba and Canada are both held up as examples to shame the U.S. over health policy and yet have both failed miserably during the pandemic, while American firms created the life-saving vaccines that are enabling us to return to normal.
I imagine there will be some damage control today from the Biden White House. I don't expect it to repeat the Obama administration's mistake with the Green Revolution in Iran, though it might. Remember that the uprising is evidence that the Obama-Biden policy of "normalization" with the regime was an utter failure, so a shift will require a bit of creative amnesia. Then again, Biden can't remember much anyway, so there's a chance to get this right.
UPDATE: Here's Biden's statement, a dramatic improvement from the day before:
We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves.
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
