Two Minute Torah Podcast

Ki Tetze 5772 by Rabbi Paul Drazen

This is Rabbi Paul Drazen, of the United Synagogue, and this is 2 minute Torah, a service of Koach, United Synagogue’s program for college age students.

One verse in this week’s parasha, ki teztze, says:

“Since the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you, let your camp be holy; let Him not find anything unseemly among you and turn away from you.”

That there should be nothing unseemly in the Israelite camp seems like a strange, or at least very difficult request. Indeed, the Torah is replete with items that could be considered unseemly. What does the Torah mean? Idolatry? That’s obvious. No creepy crawly things? Unpleasant, but they are so much a part of nature is it a realistic expectation that there should not be any? God created them, why would bugs bug God?

The commentator Ibn Ezra suggests that the rule refers to things over which we do have control, as he wrote: “Anything unseemly: In deed or in speech.” Unfortunately, he doesn’t state what unseemly speech is – of course, neither did the supreme court. But his approach makes a good deal of sense. To assure God’s protection as they entered the Land of Promise, the people Israel had to behave in ways that would assure God was comfortable, so to speak. While that measure might seem difficult to quantify, my sense is that’s a reliable measure. But what is unseemly behavior or speech?

One afternoon at a subway station near my house, two policemen stopped a group of students from the nearby middle school. Observers did not know what happened that prompted the cops to pull the kids aside, but they had a pretty good idea when officer said, “Is that the way you behave in front of your grandmother? Would you want someone else talking or acting like that in front of your grandmother?” There was no reason to cite statute and law –the question put the event and consequences into perspective. Looking for a definition of unseemly behavior? Grandma is a pretty good measure.

This Shabbat, Labor Day weekend, marks the unofficial end of summer. School is back in session or begins for nearly everyone else next week. By its nature the college environment is a place for living differently than at home. We have the opportunity to try new experiences, to rethink our positions about how we have live, how our parents live, how we take in the world around us - and it gives us a chance to make new choices.

As we grow – and this is throughout our lives, no matter our age – we should be sure to take advantage of the chances to we have to try new experiences. But taking advantage does not mean that anything and everything is open to us. That unquantifiable rule from the parasha still applies – is it unseemly? Is this the way an honorable Jewish person should behave? In this day of ubiquitous video recording and social media – is this an activity we would be willing to have recorded and posted on you tube with or without our permission?

The Torah has the expectation that God is present in our presence at all times, in all situations. The measure the Torah gives us – live in a way that God can be present – is one well worth keeping in mind.