Friday, July 8 -- 8:00pm  Saturday, July 9 -- 9:30am,

Joke of the Week 

On my computer are the two buttons representing the things I can never have: Control and Escape......

Israel News - Courtesy of CIJR  

U.S., EU TO PRESENT MIDEAST PEACE PLAN IN LAST PUSH TO PREVENT PALESTINIAN UN BID--(Jerusalem) According to senior Israeli and European officials, in a last-minute effort to stop the Palestinians from seeking unilateral recognition at the United Nations in September, the Mideast Quartet is planning to present a new international peace plan--based on U.S. President Barack Obama's Mideast speech on May 19--at a summit in Washington on July 11. The summit will take place only four days before the appointed date set by the Palestinians to officially send United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon their request for full membership at the UN. U.S. envoys Dennis Ross and David Hale conducted two rounds of talks in recent weeks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to draw up a formula for a compromise which will be used to invite both sides to engage in direct negotiations in the United States. (Haaretz, June 28.)

US SENATE: CUT AID IF PA DECLARES STATE--(Jerusalem) The U.S. Senate has approved a bill that calls for suspension of American aid to the Palestinian Authority if it insists on carrying out a plan to gain UN recognition for its statehood declaration in September; the bill was approved by all 89 senators present. The Senate bill also states that "United States law precludes assistance to a Palestinian Authority that shares power with Hamas unless that Authority and all its ministers publicly accept the right of Israel to exist and all prior agreements and understandings with the Governments of the United States and Israel." A similar bill is scheduled to come up before the U.S. House of Representatives, where 293 members have already signed off on its approval. (Ynet News, June 30.)

GREECE ARRESTS GAZA-BOUND BOAT CAPTAIN--(Jerusalem) Greek authorities have arrested the captain of a boat that was to be part of a flotilla trying to break Israel's legal blockade on the Gaza Strip. The 60-year-old captain, whose name was not released by authorities, is being held at Piraeus police headquarters and will remain there until a court hearing this week. Greece's coast guard said the captain of the "Audacity of Hope" faces charges of trying to leave port without permission and of endangering the lives of the boat's passengers. The boat attempted to sail last week from the port of Perama, near Athens, but was thwarted by coast guard speedboats. (Ynet News, July 2.)

NO MORE SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR PALESTINIAN PRISONERS--(Jerusalem) Following Hamas' refusal to provide the Red Cross with proof that kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit is alive, Israeli prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed that Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails will face tougher conditions. "The party is over," Netanyahu affirmed while speaking at the closing event at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem. Netanyahu said that while he was committed to upholding Israeli and international law and conventions, Israel will revoke benefits and privileges from jailed terrorists, including stopping the "absurd practice" of allowing "murderers in jail" to sign up for advanced academic degrees. Netanyahu believes "that if we all place political and public diplomacy pressure on Hamas, we will advance Gilad's release." (Jerusalem Post, June 23.)

NETANYAHU TO DECIDE FATE OF 5-DAY WORK WEEK IN FALL-- (Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has appointed a committee to examine whether Israel should adopt a five-day work week similar to the rest of the Western world. The committee, which will be headed by National Economic Council head Prof. Eugene Kandel, will consider Vice Premier Silvan Shalom's proposal for Israeli workers to have off on Sundays, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz's idea of eliminating the current half day of work on Fridays, and the status quo that is promoted by Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar. The committee will release its findings when the Knesset returns from its summer recess in October. (Jerusalem Post, July 4.)

Weekly Torah Portion Commentary  -   

Courtesy of Rabbi Michael Gold   

Sometimes the most extreme religious fundamentalists and the most extreme secular skeptics share a belief. This week's portion about Balaam, a gentile prophet hired to curse the Israelites, includes the tale of a talking donkey. Three times the donkey carrying Balaam on his mission stops in the road, seeing an angel blocking the way. And three times Balaam strikes the donkey. Finally the donkey opens its mouth and speaks, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" The story of the talking donkey gives both fundamentalists and skeptics food for thought.
For the fundamentalists, every word in the Torah is absolutely true. If the Torah speaks of a talking donkey, then there really was a talking donkey. Perhaps the mouth of the donkey was one of the ten miracles created from the very beginning. Nature is such that usually donkeys do not talk, but once in history a donkey really spoke. To the fundamentalists, if the Torah is valid as God's truth, then we must interpret its words literally.
For the skeptics, the assumption is that every word in the Torah is absolutely true. If the Torah speaks of a talking donkey, it means what it says. Obviously an animal that speaks is absurd, going against nature and the entire history of empirical science. So obviously the Torah is absurd. To the secular skeptic the Torah is a series of primitive fairy tales that have no relationship to the reality of how we are to live today. Therefore the Torah is not something that moderns can take seriously.
What both these views have in common is the insistence that the Torah must be read literally. They ignore the Rabbinic statement that there are seventy faces to the Torah. They ignore the idea that the Torah has always been open to multiple interpretations, including allegorical and metaphorical interpretations. Most important, they ignore the idea that truth comes in many forms. There is empirical, scientific truth, which claims that a statement corresponds to reality. And there is mythical truth, which claims that a statement is a story told to teach us profound insights about the universe.
I believe the story of the talking donkey is true, but not in any literal or scientific sense. Even Maimonides says it is a dream or vision, not a literal fact. I believe the story is in the Torah to teach us profound insights about human nature.
What does the story come to tell us? Balaam is prepared to accept a bribe to curse out the people Israel. Later he became known as a hater of Israel. Rabbinic tradition will put the blame solely on Balaam for the attempt to seduce the people Israel using Midianite women. Balaam will eventually be killed in a war against the Midianites. Basically, Balaam is a man whose greed and whose hatred is stronger than his wisdom.
The donkey, on the other hand, sees things his master does not see. He has an insight which Balaam does not have. Usually human beings are told by the Torah to rise above the animal within them. Here is a case where the animal rose above the human being. The human being lowered himself to act like an animal. To teach him a lesson, God caused the animal to rise up and act like a human being. It is as if the human and the animal changed places.
Today we live in a world where many people cannot rise above the animal within them. They cannot control their appetites, whether for money, for sex, or for alcohol and drugs. Like Balaam, they cannot control their hatred. This week's portion shows a topsy-turvy world where people act like animals and animals act like people. It is a warning as to how we ought to act as human beings. The story of the talking donkey, though not literally true, is filled with truths we need to hear.