32/33 Behar-Bechukotai: Day 3 (Tuesday) | Keeping the Land in the Hands of a Free People

18 Iyar 5786 AM | 1 AVE.

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your Spirit and invited the nations to share in the richness of Your Word. We thank You for the people and state of Israel, including the Messiah, our First Fruits, through whom the harvest of life has begun.

Today is the thirty-first day of the Omer according to the minority Sadducean and Essene counts, which is 4 weeks and 3 days.

May the Spirit of Truth prepare my heart for the revelation of the 50th day.

6:12 AM EDT. 

Jonathan Writes:

The reading is Leviticus 25:29-25:38.

This is the link to the Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad.

The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled "The Value of Work." 

The video for today is the first 4 minutes of Behar-Bechukotai [22 Iyar 5780].

I am also following this section of Behar in Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment by Rabbi Gabriel Cousens and scanning the headlines at JNS, TOI, Haaretz, and JTA. I note the following articles:

• Cornell's Jewish president clashes with students following on-campus debate about Israel - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
• Netanyahu holds top-level consultations as Israel readies for collapse of Iran truce - Israel & Jewish News - JNS

Constitutionally, I think Epic Fury must now be in a 30-day winddown stage, but I am open to the argument that Project Freedom is on a new 60-day clock under the War Powers Resolution. Strategically, I continue to disagree with Congress, which in my opinion should have ratified the CTBT, signaled a unilateral move toward Global Zero 2060, and given the White House an AUMF against the IRGC and its proxies by now. The Democrats don't seem very committed to President Obama's 2009 Global Zero Prague pledge, which contributed to his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Was Obama wrong, or do Democratic leaders in Congress and the media just not know how to cut a deal with Trump that neutralizes the IRGC's unacceptable nuclear ambitions and truly advances nonproliferation in the Middle East and worldwide? President Reagan, for his part, was a nuclear abolitionist.

Maybe President Trump should let the American people know that he is wrapping up Epic Fury by the end of May, and maybe he should let the Iranian people know that he is willing to allow enrichment under 4% by rational Iranian actors as part of a multilateral regional security arrangement, but not on a unilateral basis by genocidal antisemitic IRGC extremists, and certainly not while there is HEU anywhere on Iranian soil. The HEU situation needs to be resolved immediately, before the end of May, and before there can be talks on Iranian limited enrichment rights. We need a clear global norm: if you make HEU without authorization from the UN Security Council, your state forfeits the right to limited enrichment for at least 20 years after all of the HEU has been removed, as certified by the IAEA. Something like that.  

Last night after dinner I watched Songs of Heaven: The Music of the Angels. I really need to watch it again and leave a comment for Professor Hanson.

Shalom.

End 7:58 AM.