Cleanliness, Godliness & K’doshim

What IS my obsession with toilet bowls—really??

Or is it our culture?

I got sucked into Facebook the other day, as one is wont, and saw this crazy video of a woman pouring tons of different colored liquid and powdered cleanser, and shaving cream, into an empty toilet bowl.

It had a scrubby thing blocking the hole, and she filled the toilet——all the way to the top—with this toxic stuff!!

It was disgusting—and I couldn’t tear myself away from it.

She poured layer upon layer, emptying at least six containers of Dawn and Comet, and she showed you each bottle before she squirted or shook, almost as if she were advertising the products, making cutesy little designs at each layer.

It was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen.

I watched because I wanted to see the point; was this a science experiment? Was it going to foam up and over the sides of the toilet?

No. When she was done, she put some gloves on, put her hand in, mixed it all together, and in 5 seconds, she flushed, and it all just disappeared down the toilet. All those chemicals!

And the toilet wasn’t even dirty to begin with!!

Did it reflect this obsession we have as a culture with toilets and cleanliness in general—our fear of germs and bad smells?

I saw a comment from someone: “I can’t believe you made me watch this!" (And three hysterically laughing emojis.)

I wanted to comment, ““What exactly is the message here?? This is so toxic, wasteful and terrible for the earth!” (But I didn’t want to embarrass the person who posted it—and I’m not going to give you a link to the video to make you watch it!).

This week, the Torah portion is K’doshim. It gives over lots of laws for living a holy life, some of which are repeated elsewhere in the Torah.

It starts with God telling the Israelite community through Moses, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy.”

It repeats again and again, “I am your God,” after each stipulation that, if followed, will make the Israelites holy.

Among these are ways to treat our fellow humans and the Earth. It’s about treating family members and the stranger with respect and care, being honest and fair; it’s about leaving the gleanings of the field or the orchard for the poor; remembering that we were strangers in a strange land; paying your workers (who work the land) on time, not drinking the blood of an animal because blood is the life-force; it’s about the holiness of animals, and allowing fruit trees to establish themselves as healthy and strong before eating their fruit.

The Torah clearly tells us that we are to be holy, as God is holy; we are to be like God.

What does that mean, exactly?

Last week, I wrote about our connection to the land as Jews; we remember this every year on Passover as we yearn to return ”next year” to Jerusalem.

The earth, as stated in the Torah, is obviously holy, or we wouldn’t have all these stipulations about how to treat it. For us to be holy, it seems to me, we need to stay connected with the holiness of our land. If you’ve seen Fantastic Fungi, then you understand how closely intertwined we are with the earth, and how much our health and life depend on the Earth’s health and life.

These “germs” actually make us stronger if we can live in harmony with them.

Yet, our consumer-driven culture has made us forget this fact, and often confuses cleanliness with the absence of life. One of the ten commandments given to us is, “Do not kill”—yet that’s all we do with the toxic chemicals we daily pour down the drain—and on our crops.

So, I end with this “Earth Prayer”:

O Endless Creator, Force of Life,…

Let us, when swimming with the stream,

become the stream.

Let us, when moving with the music,

become the music.

Let us, when rocking the wounded,

become the suffering.

Let us live deep enough

till there is only one direction,

and slow enough till there is only

the beginning of time,

and loud enough in our hearts

till there is no need to speak.

Let us live for the grace beneath all we want,

let us see it in everything and everyone,

till we admit to the mystery

that when I look deep enough into you,

I find me, and when you dare to hear my fear

in the recess of your heart, you recognize it

as your secret which you thought

no one else knew.

O let us embrace

that unexpected moment of unity

as the atom of God.

Let us have the courage

to hold each other when we break

and worship what unfolds….

O nameless spirit that is not done with us,

let us love without a net

beyond the fear of death

until the speck of peace

we guard so well

becomes the world.

(Mark Nepo, from The Way Under The Way)

And let us say Amen.