Q&A: Coarse Language in the Army
Coarse Language in the Army
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi, thank you for this enlightening site. I serve in the Givati Reconnaissance Unit, and I wanted to ask about two things that make religious conduct difficult. There is a lot of pressure, sometimes emotional, which together with the prolonged time spent with friends whose speech includes sexual expressions causes me to take part in that kind of language. My question is whether that is still acceptable given the difficulty of being set apart from that language. It can be added that the expressions have no connection at all to any sexual meaning, and nobody thinks about that at all.
Another question is about washing hands before eating bread. I know they exempted this in camp, but usually I’m not on an operation, and even so it’s difficult every time to look for water, especially when time is short.
Thank you
Answer
It’s hard to give a clear-cut answer. There is no clear halakhic prohibition against coarse language, but it is very inappropriate. I think it would also be better for you not to slide into that, and I assume your friends will respect that. It’s even a good way to maintain a reasonable degree of separation from the general norms there, so that they know you are a little different in this respect.
I didn’t understand the question about washing hands. In camp? Not in camp? What exactly are you referring to?