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TORAH PORTION

Rabbis Advise: Cleanliness
Equals Righteousness

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RABBI M. ROBERT SYME

Special to The Jewish News

you have
have a Bible near at
hand, please turn to Chap-
ter 19 in the book of Num-
bers, and read verses 19 - 22.
There is a constant reference to
sprinkling of water, to wash-
ing, to bathing. It concludes
with the words: "Whatsoever
the unclean person toucheth
shall be unclean; and the soul
that toucheth him, shall be un-
clean until evening."
If you read the Bible and
study it from time to time, you
already know that this theme of
washing and bathing is often
repeated. The Psalmist says:
"Who shall ascent the mountain
of the Lord, and who shall stand
in God's holy place?" And he an-
swers: Ni-kee chah-pah-yim. "He
that bath clean hands!" And it
has nothing to do with the kind
of soap you use. It has every-
thing to do with the kind of in-
tegrity you practice. In Jewish
tradition, cleanliness is associ-
ated with righteousness, while
dirt is associated with sinful-
ness.
Now, if I were to ask you:
"What is the origin of sinful-
ness, and how can man be re-
deemed from it?" you would dis-
cover that the Christian answer
would differ from the Jewish
answer. Classical Christianity
taught that every person has
original sin. Every person has
inherited from Adam, the sin
which he committed in the gar-
den of Eden. Therefore, it re-
quires supernatural means to
redeem man from his iniquity.
Judaism takes an entirely
different point of view. Every
morning, upon arising, the Jew
is required to say in his prayers:
"My God, the soul which Thou
hast given me, came pure from
Thee." Then the question natur-
ally arises: "How do we become
sinful, if God has given us a
pure clean soul?"
There are many ways. Let us
focus our attention on the verse
in the Sidrah: "Whatsoever the
unclean ,person toucheth, shall
be unclean; and the soul that
toucheth him shall be unclean
until evening."
Last week, I was called upon
to appear in a judge's chamber,
to testify for a young man. This
young man has a lovely wife,
three young children, and is
fairly comfortable financially.
About three months ago, a
friend approached him, and in-
formed him that he had an in-
side tip on a certain stock. If he
could come up with $25,000 to
invest in this stock, he could
triple his money within a
month. The young man "bor-
rowed" $25,000 from his firm,
without permission. Unfortu-
nately, the market collapsed last
week, and the young man was
found out.
What was the reason for his
sinfulness? Obviously, it was

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Rabbi Syme is spiritual leader
of Temple Israel.

greed. But it was also due to the
fact that he associated with the
wrong people. He failed to heed
the advice of our sages who said:
Hch-vay zah-heer-"be careful."
Be careful of evil influences.
Keep away from bad friends.
Avoid being infected by their
devious ways. Wash yourself!
Now, it is one thing to say:
"Keep away from evil individu-
als." But what do you do when a
whole society is corrupt? As a
matter of fact the Torah de-
scribes such a world in the Book
of Genesis when it says: "The
whole earth is corrupt." And
what did God do? He bathed the
world. He sent the flood, and
only Noah and his family were
saved.
Today, we live in a difficult
age, It is especially difficult to
be a teenager today. All around
them, young people are exposed
to many temptations, to danger-

Shabbat
Chukat-Balak
Numbers 19:1-25:9
Michah 5:6-6:8

ous influences. At such a time
in their lives, they need paren-
tal example. In a world that is
unclean, parents dare not abdi-
cate. If children are going to be
trustworthy, it is because they
have parents who do not boast
of the clever and shrewd deals
that they have put over on un-
suspecting individuals. Every
family must shield itself against
the worldwide infection of evil.
The story is told of a man who
is dying. His rabbi came to see
him. The man said to the rabbi:
"Rabbi, all my life, I have tried
to be a decent human being. I
have attempted to be a loyal
husband, and a devoted father.
Unfortunately however, I never
attended religious services reg-
ularly. Now I am about to die,
and I will soon meet God. What
shall I say to Him when I meet
Him?" And the Rabbi said:
"Don't say anything. Just show
•him your hands."
That is why this becomes the
ultimate test. That is why we
say: "He that hath clean hands"
is worthy of standing in the
presence of the Lord.
Jewish self-pride demands
that as parents, we must teach
our children, by personal exam-
ple, to make a distinction be-
tween Ta-hohr vi-tah-may be-
tween the clean and the unc-
lean. In that way, we will reflect
honor on God, and on the
Jewish people.

Brandeis U.
Gets $15 Million

Waltham (JTA) — More than
$15 million in gifts, including a
$500,000 scholarship program in
memory of the space shuttle
Challenger's crew and $3.5 mil-
lion for computer facilities, has
been announced by Brandeis
University president Evelyn
Handler.

