What does it mean to be straight with God?
What does it mean to be straight with ourselves?
תָּמִ֣ים תִּֽהְיֶ֔ה עִ֖ם ה' אֱלֹקֶֽיךָ׃
You must be wholehearted with the LORD your God.
(א) וַיְהִ֣י אַבְרָ֔ם בֶּן־תִּשְׁעִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְתֵ֣שַׁע שָׁנִ֑ים וַיֵּרָ֨א ה' אֶל־אַבְרָ֗ם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ אֲנִי־אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔י הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י וֶהְיֵ֥ה תָמִֽים׃
(1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless.
(ה) שֶׂ֥ה תָמִ֛ים זָכָ֥ר בֶּן־שָׁנָ֖ה יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם מִן־הַכְּבָשִׂ֥ים וּמִן־הָעִזִּ֖ים תִּקָּֽחוּ׃
(5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך. הִתְהַלֵּךְ עִמּוֹ בִתְמִימוּת, וּתְצַפֶּה לוֹ, וְלֹא תַחֲקֹר אַחַר הָעֲתִידוֹת, אֶלָּא כָּל מַה שֶּׁיָּבֹא עָלֶיךָ קַבֵּל בִּתְמִימוּת וְאָז תִּהְיֶה עִמּוֹ וּלְחֶלְקוֹ:
תמים תהיה עם ה' אלהיך THOU SHALT BE PERFECT WITH THE LORD THY GOD — walk before God whole-heartedly, put thy hope in God and do not attempt to investigate the future, but whatever it may be that comes upon thee accept it whole-heartedly, and then thou shalt be with Him and become His portion (Sifrei Devarim 173:3).
Rabbi Harold Kushner How Good do We Have to Be? page 170
[What does tamim mean?] Contemporary scholars take the word tamim to mean something like "whole-hearted". My own study of the verse leads me to conclude that what God wants from Abraham, and by implication from us, is not perfection, but integrity. God wants Abraham to strive to be true to the core of who he is, even if he strays from that core occasionally.
Bahya Ibn Paquda, Hovot Ha-levavot (Duties of the Heart)
(11th century Spanish rabbi, philosopher and moralist)
"You should know that the precepts of the heart imply a complete harmony between our inner and outward actions, as regards the service of the Lord, till the heart and tongue and other limbs will be at one with each other, each one justifying and bearing witness in favour of the other, neither contradicting nor belying each other."
Rabbi Elana Nemitoff-Bresler
When we show up wholeheartedly, it means we are able to appear as we truly are, not attempting to hide ourselves, but accepting ourselves. These verses and commentary speak of showing up wholehearted before God. Even when our own theology doesn't bear that idea out, we can consider showing up wholeheartedly in our actions with others as well as with ourselves.
Rabbi Gail Labovitz
To be tamim, then, is to have a sense of identity and self-knowledge. It demands introspection and integrity. And finally, to be tamim is to engage in imitatio dei, the attempt to emulate the ways of God, and to be tamim is to embody Torah and its teachings.
בְּמַאי קָמִיפַּלְגִי מָר סָבַר בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה כַּמָּה דְּכָיֵיף אִינִישׁ דַּעְתֵּיהּ טְפֵי מְעַלֵּי וּבְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים כַּמָּה דְּפָשֵׁיט אִינִישׁ דַּעְתֵּיהּ טְפֵי מְעַלֵּי וּמָר סָבַר בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה כַּמָּה דְּפָשֵׁיט אִינִישׁ דַּעְתֵּיהּ טְפֵי מְעַלֵּי וּבְתַעֲנִיּוֹת כַּמָּה דְּכָיֵיף אִינִישׁ דַּעְתֵּיהּ טְפֵי מְעַלֵּי:
One Sage, Rabbi Yehuda, holds that on Rosh HaShana the more a person bends his mind and humbles himself by bending in prayer, the better. Therefore, a curved shofar is sounded as an allusion to our bent minds and bodies. But on Yom Kippur, the more a person straightens his mind and prays with simplicity, the better. Therefore, a straight shofar is sounded. The other Sage, maintains the opposite: On Rosh HaShana, the more a person straightens his mind and avoids any crookedness, the better. On fasts, on the other hand, the more a person bends his mind and humbles himself, the better.