Torah of Character: Parshat Shoftim - Wholehearted Faith

Abstract

A running motif throughout Deuteronomy is Moses’ concern that the Israelites would be negatively influenced by the surrounding Canaanite culture. In Parshat Shoftim Moses cautions them against following a subset of particularly spiritually and morally repugnant characters: augurs, soothsayers, diviners, sorcerers, spell-casters, and consulters of spirits, ghosts, and the dead. After listing the prohibitions, Moses concludes with a succinct positive formulation: “You must be tamim with the Lord, your God” (Deut. 18:13). Translations of tamim vary and include “perfect,” “whole,” “complete,” and “wholehearted.” What exactly are the paramaters and expectations of this abstract phrase? What, if any, relevance does it have in a society where the previously cited sins are less enticing than they once were?