Keeping the Camp Holy

Parshat Ki Tetze 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The Torah speaks of the military encampment, and a level of purity, holiness, and even cleanliness which is meant to be maintained while out in the field. One aspect, the covering of human waste, can verily be understood to be the Torah’s way of also protecting from filth and disease which can easily be spread in a military space, when people do not properly tend to hygiene. [Incidentally, until the 20th century, in just about every military conflict in history, more soldiers died from disease, starvation and the elements than from combat. Even some fronts in WWI and WWII are disputed about these outcomes, but after the World Wars, this has certainly been the case – now, in general, there are far more casualties from combat than from those other factors.]

 

From Devarim Chapter 23:

10When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall beware of everything evil. 11If there is among you a man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come within the camp. 12And it shall be, towards evening, he shall bathe in water, and when the sun sets, he may come within the camp. 13And you shall have a designated place outside the camp, so that you can go out there [to use it as a privy]. 14And you shall keep a stake in addition to your weapons; and it shall be, when you sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig with it, and you shall return and cover your excrement. 15For the Lord, your God, goes along in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you. [Therefore,] your camp shall be holy, so that He should not see anything unseemly among you and would turn away from you.		יכִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א מַֽחֲנֶ֖ה עַל־אֹֽיְבֶ֑יךָ וְנִ֨שְׁמַרְתָּ֔ מִכֹּ֖ל דָּבָ֥ר רָֽע: יאכִּי־יִֽהְיֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ אִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־יִֽהְיֶ֥ה טָה֖וֹר מִקְּרֵה־לָ֑יְלָה וְיָצָא֙ אֶל־מִח֣וּץ לַמַּֽחֲנֶ֔ה לֹ֥א יָבֹ֖א אֶל־תּ֥וֹךְ הַמַּֽחֲנֶֽה: יבוְהָיָ֥ה לִפְנֽוֹת־עֶ֖רֶב יִרְחַ֣ץ בַּמָּ֑יִם וּכְבֹ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ יָבֹ֖א אֶל־תּ֥וֹךְ הַמַּֽחֲנֶֽה: יגוְיָד֙ תִּֽהְיֶ֣ה לְךָ֔ מִח֖וּץ לַמַּֽחֲנֶ֑ה וְיָצָ֥אתָ שָׁ֖מָּה חֽוּץ: ידוְיָתֵ֛ד תִּֽהְיֶ֥ה לְךָ֖ עַל־אֲזֵנֶ֑ךָ וְהָיָה֙ בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֣ ח֔וּץ וְחָֽפַרְתָּ֣ה בָ֔הּ וְשַׁבְתָּ֖ וְכִסִּ֥יתָ אֶת־צֵֽאָתֶֽךָ: טוכִּי֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ מִתְהַלֵּ֣ךְ | בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַֽחֲנֶ֗ךָ לְהַצִּֽילְךָ֙ וְלָתֵ֤ת אֹֽיְבֶ֨יךָ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ וְהָיָ֥ה מַחֲנֶ֖יךָ קָד֑וֹשׁ וְלֹֽא־יִרְאֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר וְשָׁ֖ב מֵאַֽחֲרֶֽיךָ:

While the verses above speak for themselves in terms of the rules of Tumah and Taharah of the Jewish army-camp, the overall theme is emphasized in verse 15 with the phrase “Your camp shall be holy – והיה מחניך קדוש.” 

 [Tumah and Taharah are often translated as “impure” and “pure” respectively, or “defiled” and “undefiled” (some say “unclean” and “clean”), but none of those are accurate translations. Both of these “statuses” are God-defined, and the easiest loose translation is that Tumah lands in the realm of negativity, or is a barrier to certain participation in holy activities, and Taharah is an overwhelmingly positive space to be in, as it is either defined as or is the opening to participation in holy activities. While Tumah is associated with death, and is a status which lands on humans for coming in contact with the dead, being in a state of Tumah isn’t inherently “bad” because sometimes, particularly when dealing with burial – a “chesed” – one becomes Tameh.]

 The Chafetz Chaim pointed to the latter part of verse 15, “He should not see anything unseemly among you - ערות דבר – and turn away from you” to explain that the verse is speaking about modesty and the holiness of the camp. The term ערות דבר is one which immediately conjures images of nakedness (see Vayikra chapter 18), which is why the Chafetz Chaim made the easy connection to modesty. Considering that in general women were not at the battlefield in Biblical times, the concept of nakedness described in the text has nothing to do with male/female interactions, and everything to do with a modesty incumbent upon the people in the camp – despite it being “the military” and all minds are occupied on the task at hand. Nevertheless, modesty is something not limited to a time and space – it even applies in that time and space. If it applies in a space where people could easily make exceptions, because of the very nature of what it means to be in a military encampment, then even moreso the rules of modesty should apply in non-pressure situations, so we not cause God to “turn away from you.”

 The Chafetz Chaim noted that the divine-threat of “abandoning you” does not apply to any other human character traits beyond modesty, which goes to show how important it should be in our personal-decision-making. God’s abandoning us is often tied to our pursuit of idolatry, which is another way of saying our pursuit of abandoning Him – which would make it, in that case, a perfect example of God’s operating on a “measure-for-measure” basis. But the pursuit of idolatry has nothing to do with middos, one’s personal character traits, as much as it has to do with one’s mind choosing a different path, to the detriment of one’s soul. 

 Another related insight is presented by the Korban He’Ani, in the same verse (15) as he points out that the words לְהַצִּֽילְךָ֙ וְלָתֵ֤ת אֹֽיְבֶ֨יךָ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ (“to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you”) begin with the letters, which, when mixed around, spell the word אלול. The hint here, as indicated through the lead-in to those 4 words, is that God is among you! As the verse in Yeshayahu 56 says – seek out Hashem where He can be found – there is a message here that we can even search for God in the military camp, even in a place which seems so distant from our general reality. In the month of Elul, we should be particularly cognizant of the need to re-embrace modesty, as this is the most up-front and discernible quality that can be seen before any other impression we can give, whether an impression through speech or action. 

 How we present ourselves is the first impression we give to the world and to humanity, and whether the choice is modesty v immodesty, or dignified v shlumpy, or appropriate v inappropriate – the choice in all cases should be the former. 

 It is important to remember that there is a time and place for almost everything, and some environments surely have a different dress code than others. If one is exercising or playing an intense kind of sport, one may address appropriately for that activity, though reasonable modesty should always play into the decisions one makes. The same holds true for swimming! While Olympic and professional swimmers (men and women) generally wear minimal-cover, the rest of us who might swim recreationally can do better than that and cover up much more than that. 

 What we wear while playing basketball or pickleball or when going for an intense walk or run should be modest for that activity, but those clothes are generally not appropriate for the synagogue, when we are engaging with the Almighty in petition and prayer. Ay, one might argue, God sees me in the shower anyway, so surely whatever I think is appropriate for shul is much more covered up than that! This may be true, but this is also irrelevant. When we are in shul we are a tzibbur, a collective who are praying together, and all of us contribute to the sum of our totality. We can be a link in that large and beautiful chain, or we can choose to be a cog in the chain, which contributes a small imperfection to the general uniformity of modesty that a congregation presents. 

 This does not mean everyone needs to dress to the nines, and wear formal suits, dresses, or gowns to every Tefillah, but that an awareness of a level of communal modesty is certainly a reasonable expectation that parishioners should be able to rely on from others when creating a communal presentation before the Almighty that we hope will be acceptable to Him.

 May we be blessed to keep our camp holy in all ways, and at the very least to heed the Chafetz Chaim’s message – and in this time of Elul as hinted in the verse – to raise the bar on how we keep the encampment holy.