One of the most difficult and troubling of all the laws in the Torah appears in this week's parsha - the law of the 'ben sorer u'moreh' - the wayward and rebellious son. This is what it says in the 21st chapter of Deuteronomy: "When a man has a son who is wayward and rebellious, who does not listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they warn him, but he does not listen to them. His father and mother shall seize him and bring him to the elders of his town, to the gate of his place.

I recently saw – somewhat belatedly – the movie Hell or High Water. Besides being a great film, it really goes a long way towards explaining why Trump is president and what is happening in terms of race and class relations today in America. I highly recommend you see it.

In parshat Ekev there are quite a few verses about God’s strength and power. Most of these are mentioned in connection with the impending conquest of the Land of Canaan; God, with His strength, will make it possible for the Israelites to conquer the land He promised to their forefathers – it is His power that will guarantee their military victories against larger and stronger armies.

“What will the goyim (non-Jews) think?” This stereotypical Jewish question is usually understood as an unhealthy, fearful concern for how the more confident, stronger, culturally dominant gentile host nation will look upon and treat the weak Jewish strangers living among them: “How will our behavior influence the way they treat us?

I have to say that when Trump appointed Anthony Scaramucci to the position of Director of Miscommunication at the White House, I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God this thuggish, cartoonish clown is not Jewish! We have seen Trump appoint so many creepy, clueless Jews to so many positions lately, all kinds of Jews; Orthodox, apparently secular, even one prize petunia who is a former Jew – where does he find these guys? - that it was a real relief when this vulgar, foul-mouthed crooked little punk turned out to not be one of us.

One of the truisms of late twentieth/early twenty-first century society is the notion that a strong sense of community, which was once a major feature of human existence, has essentially broken down. People are now understood to be more individualistic, free to do and think what they like without the fetters of communal responsibility. It doesn’t seem to matter much what society – whatever that might now be – thinks; you should be free to do what you like, live how you like, love who you like, be who you like. An individual is responsible only to his or her wishes and desires.

Our social and political discourse, which is always, to some degree, ideological, has become much more so of late. People attack liberal, progressive, right wing, religious, secular, Democratic or Republican positions simply because they are liberal, progressive, right wing, religious, secular, Democratic or Republican, and defend their positions with the same sort of thoughtless sloganeering and reliance on untried and untested ideological claims. They call names, use ad hominem arguments, and often incomprehensible jargon.

I’ve been watching The Handmaid’s Tale with my wife – we’re about at the middle - and I’m being seriously challenged. We are both finding it hard to take, (Iris is threatening to bail but I think she’ll stick with it) and I want to share with you some of the issues it’s raising for me.

The problem of Korach is a tricky one. Although we do recognize the honesty, wisdom, self-sacrifice, dedication, and other outstanding character traits that make Moshe and his brother Aharon fit and proper leaders, our modern commitment to democracy, equality, and egalitarianism kind of wants us to agree with Korach and his rebellion against Moshe and Aharon. It really does seem a bit unfair, and nepotistic, that the leadership roles keep going to the brothers and their family.