Mass shootings make headlines, but underreported are how many people in the U.S. dies each year because of guns (44.000 ;ast year). Even worse, among those 44.000 killed were 5,100 children  ages 1 to 17—over 1,000 more than any other year since 2014, and a 50 percent increase over the number of children killed in 2019. The Torah has a law to cover the this public safety nightmare, and we have a role to play, as well.

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The Sages of old said all festive meals, Pesach included, should include "meat and fish." My guest this week advocates going a different route (or should that be root?). Please note that there will be no podcast next week.

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Last week, I explored the first part of the Exodus story, that of Joseph (and Jacob). This weekI look at the other end of those 430 years. I may be wrong, of course, but from Joseph to Moses, there is a perfect fit IN HISTORY for this biblical tale so many scholars say never happened. IT DID HAPPEN!

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Passover will be here three weeks from tonight. So many biblical scholars and critics insist it's a made up story. If so, "why is this night be different from all the other nights"? Why should we go to all the extra trouble of preparing that Passover brings to the table, literally and figuratively? They say it never happened because there is no record of it found in the history of Egypt or anywhere else outside the Bible. Well, listen to the podcasts this week and next and decide for yoiurself who's the one blowing smoke—the Torah, or the scholars.

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With Passover just over four weeks away, this topic is as timely as you can get. Why do Passover foods cost so much and what can be done about it?

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All hail Marduk. All hail Ishtar. Purim is upon us and here are some things you may not have known about what arguably is the most joyous—and even silliest and most raucous—festival of the Jewish year (and also the LAST festival of the TRUE Jewish year, but that's another story).

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Considering that social justice issues are finally back on the American agenda, here's a look at how the Torah always kept social justice at the top of its agenda—a timely discussion expecially because it's what this week's Torah portion is all about.

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I know that many people, women especially, think the Torah is anti-woman. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, the Torah attests to the complete equality of women. which puts the Torah squarely in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

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Seriously, Moses held up his staff and a sea split? He hit a rock with it and water poured out in such great quantity that it quenched the thirst of a vast multitude?   If you don't believe such things, how can you believe anything the Torah says? Here's how. Let me know what you think after listening to this episode. Go to www.shammai.org and e-mail me, please.

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Two events—President Biden's moves to upgrade our environmental efforts and the coming next Thursday of the minor festival known as Tu B'Shevat—come together to determine this week's topic.

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