Seduction Reduction

“Dov, you gotta see this. Jane just walked in. Boy, is she dressed to kill. Now I know you demand professional dress, but wow, you just gotta see her today.”

“We have a meeting later on this morning. I know she is adept at her personal presentation skills, but she always keeps it on the professional side of the line.”

Not this time. When the meeting started, I discovered just how candidly someone could express themselves while remaining dressed head to toe.

“Dov, how are you, sweetie?” She flashed a very warm smile at me.

“Fine, Jane. You called the meeting, what can I do for you?”

She inched her seat unusually close to me.

“I heard there is an opening in accounting. You know how hard I have been working. I want this promotion.”

“You do work hard, and yes, when they ask me who I think is best for the position, I will say good things about you.”

She inches even closer, to the point where I smell nothing but her perfume.

Then she puts her hand on my shoulder.

“I knew I could count on you Dov. I know that if I need anything, you will be there for me”

She leans in closer.

“Jane.”

“Yes sweetie.”

“Take your hands off of me. If you ever touch me I will lodge a complaint with human resources about improper conduct that will go on your record, and be there whenever you are up for any type of promotion.”

She jerks back, hands at her side.

“Now get back to work while you still have work to get back to.”

She walks out.

Even if I were not Shomer Brit – trying to guard my holy covenant the best way I can – nothing would have happened. Jane knows a hard fact about today’s world. Seduction sells. Seduction isn’t the act itself, but merely the hint that it’s possible. It is the dangling of the possibility that drives people, or in this and many other situations, manipulates them.

Men seduce with their charm. Women seduce with their looks. Both seduce with their money, power, and influence.

The best company, social organization, Shul, school, government office, or any group of people working together towards a common goal needs the right people in the right places to function at peak performance.

Despite that, politics always gets in the way. Politics is about power, and power is about the illusion of control. Just like seduction. That’s how the wrong people maneuver their way into positions of responsibility they didn’t earn, or are not qualified to fulfill. As a result, everybody who depends on this institution to work will be disappointed. Politics and seduction go hand in hand: people rising in the ranks based not on what they did, or can do, but on what they fool us into thinking they can give us.

This is where Hashem steps in to guide us right. When we take on the mitzvah of personal holiness, we don’t let anyone seduce us with the most powerful form of manipulation there is. Our decisions are made by what’s best for us, and the people we serve. Everybody, because of your diligence, benefits.

The moment you take on the path of personal holiness, you begin training right away. Over a thousand times a day you are conditioning yourself to resist the powerful temptations of the world around you. Slowly but steadily you are developing the muscle to stay focused on the most important things even in the face of money, power, influence, and licentiousness.

You would be surprised at how many wrong decisions we make in the name of these desires. I am not talking about the big things, but the hundreds of small choices we make every day that determine how we feel about ourselves right before we recite the bedtime Shema.

For the mitzvah, we do it to serve Hashem. Hashem blesses us with the ability to see through the illusion and make clear choices, choices that will propel us above and beyond the rest of the world still trapped within the constraints of their own weaknesses. If over 90% of the world has been infected with this impurity, and you fight to overcome it, can you see how far you have advanced?

The mitzvah of Shmirat Habrit makes you almost impervious to anyone trying to turn you away from the things you want most in life.