Americans didn't want to be in Afghanistan, but we did not want to be defeated.
In the wake of Biden's debacle, his administration and its defenders are offering up all kinds of excuses. The worst of these is that they "inherited" a bad deal from Trump. Not only have they done away with lots of other things, including international agreements (see Central America), that Trump negotiated, but the fact is that the negotiations with the Taliban began under Obama -- and they were far worse than anything Trump did. (Remember the Beau Bergdahl prisoner swap -- 5 Taliban generals for one deserter?) Trump, at least, dropped the MOAB before negotiating, and broke off talks when there was violence.
It's really demoralizing to think of the U.S. suffering this kind of humiliation. It places us all in danger, and our allies as well. I wondered last night whether the American moment really is over -- how much we are at risk of future attacks, and whether the freedom we have taken for granted is doomed to fade in the face of growing Chinese power and the machinations of other rival powers.
The answer, per Charles Krauthammer, is that decline is a choice. Now, it's true that there are many Americans pushing for decline -- all the wokesters, and the BLM protesters, and the Antifa kids, and the college professors, and the media types, and Hollywood. In short, the intellectuals, the culture brokers, the elite.
But there are many of us who will refuse to accept this defeat -- and who will turn our energies, instead, to building an opposition, and holding Biden, and the media that supported him, accountable for this failure. More than that, we are going to replace his odious administration with a true pro-American one. It may be a return of Trump; it may be another candidate; but it is going to happen.
The first step is the California recall. Then the midterms. Then 2024.
We are coming.
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
