As a native New Yorker, profanity is my first language. In New York, profane language is not considered sin or evil, but is simply a way of exclamating your comments. It lets people know you feel strongly about something.

The third haftarah of admonition comes from Isaiah 1:1─27. In this portion Isaiah brings charges against the people from God, calling them to remove the stains of bloodshed and oppression.

As we continue to learn mussar through the days of sefirat ha-omer (counting the omer), we can see some helpful parallels between the two topics. Mussar is all about spiritual preparation and progress, and so is sefirat ha-omer, if we understand it properly.

Rebbe Nachman explains how, just as the cleanliness of one’s clothing indicates his/her level of dignity, one’s speech is indicative of one’s inner cleanliness. Speech serves as the “garment” of the mind.

Whenever we would visit my grandparents, everything in their Bronx apartment was in perfect order. Nothing was out-of-place, and there was no clutter lying around. The minute they were done with any paper, my grandfather would take it down the hall to the incinerator, and it was gone

All were astir; the Gaon of Vilna was coming to Vaysechvoos! He would be staying in their modest village for one night on his way to Minsk.

One of the first activities incumbent upon Jews as preparation for morning prayer and meals is the act of ritual hand washing.

In a world where spirituality is characterized as being an inner reality, it is easy to fall into a state of disconnect with the externality of spiritual life. We can lose the sense of value of how we present ourselves to one another and God on a physical level. We mustn’t forget that there are many times when the externalities of life are used as metaphors for things that encompass all dimensions of existence. Cleanliness is particularly connected to holiness in TaNaKh and in the apostolic Writings.

Without a doubt, personal hygiene speaks volumes about who we are and Who we serve. As Rabbi Lefin discusses in Cheshbon HaNefesh, someone needs to have only one look at us in whatever state we are in to establish a picture of who we are (or aren't).

It’s strange to say, but unfortunately the spiritual disease of tzara’at does not exist today. Life might be a little easier if we had a physical barometer of how well our soul is connected to others and to the Divine. Once we see the physical signs we could get some help, repair, restore, and reconnect. Today our purity of soul is much more difficult to measure so we must be proactive in it’s care.

The service check light never came on, but the sticker on my windshield is telling me that I need to get my oil changed. It's not like I couldn't think of a myriad of other things I would rather be doing. What I do know is that if I continue driving my car much longer without that oil change, I put my car in closer proximity to having engine difficulties and serious car bill headaches.

Cleanliness is the rung of immediate interest. Many of us are aware of the well-known phrase, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” For as cleanliness leads to holiness, or separation, holiness thus brings us to a higher level in Hashem through saintliness. This gives us good reason to practice cleanliness on a higher level.

Last summer, I visited a church in Denver that had acquired one of the city’s oldest and best-known synagogues. The building had been abandoned for years and had to be completely restored, a massive project that included hauling away truckloads of pigeon droppings.