Tuesday, June 11, 2019
I rarely if ever write about politics per se. All politics is messy and borders upon reviewing the worst instincts that exist within human behavior. I am not interested in washing dirty linen in public, and though I believe in democracy and its institutions and procedures, I am oftentimes unable to reconcile myself to the manner in which democratic elections or the legislative and executive processes are conducted. I nevertheless feel impelled – simply because I have to write a column this week and could think of nothing else to write about – to address the current political situation both in the United States and here in Israel.
Often, in political debate and in the media that...
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
In many respects this is the saddest chapter that appears in the Torah. The Jewish people, having successfully been released from Egyptian slavery and arriving at Mount Sinai and accepting the sacredness of God's Torah, they then embark on the building of the Tabernacle. They are then able to successfully complete that project and are ready to undertake the final mission that they are charged with in the desert of Sinai – entry into the land of Israel, its conquest and settlement.
Here, on the threshold of victory and fulfillment, the whole project begins to unravel. The father-in-law of Moshe, Yitro, deserts them for reasons which the text of the Torah does not expand upon. Then the...
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