Blago, Clinton, and Edom

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (pronounced "Bla GOY a vich") was just sentenced to 14 years in prison today.  Illinois will now have 2 former governors in prison at the same time.  As my Ashkenazi friends would say, "Such Nachas!"

The Sun Times reports:

The prosecutor said Blagojevich “spent seven days on the witness stands perjuring himself. He tried to lie his way out of a guilty verdict.

“He testified Lisa Madigan was his first choice for the Senate seat. That was a lie. He lied repeatedly. He is incredibly manipulative. And he knows how to be. To his credit, he is clever about it.”

Citing news accounts, Schar said he could tell that jurors saw through Blagojevich’s lies.

“Twelve people in a jury box — he caters to them to get what he wants,” Schar said. “The government caught it. I’m happy to see, based on the press reports, that jurors caught it. He managed to hit on things. ... There was a juror from Boston. Suddenly, we heard how he loved the city of Boston. “

Noting that one juror had opened a Greek restaurant and another worked in a library, Schar said: “He said he loved to study at the library and on the way there would stop by the Greek restaurant to get a cup of coffee.”

The judge laughed at that.

Schar continued: “He wanted to manipulate the audience to help himself.”

Just as the pig shows its split hooves to show how it is Kosher, so does Edom try to convince the world how it's Kosher and more moral than everyone else.  Just as Esav tricked Yitzhak into thinking how careful he was in Mitzvot by asking about tithing salt, Governor Blagojevich is a master manipulator and tricked people into liking him.  Almost 3 years ago, I talked about how the former governor was at a Simhat Beit Hasho'eva in Chicago years earlier and was dancing along.  This is another example of this. 

Another case in point: Secretary of State Clinton.  When it suited her, she was very comfortable with Orthodox Jews and their practices. However, recently, she attacked Orthodox religious practices in her speech to the Saban Forum based on her warped idea of moral values.  In response, Rabbi Adlerstein delivered a zinger. 

In the end, Edom and its moral values will be destroyed and will be replaced by the moral values of the Torah.