GEN297 Derekh eretz means respecting the social conventions of the community. As. R. Meir taught: “When you enter a town, follow its customs” Genesis Rabbah 48:14.  Thus, the sage Samuel counseled Jews some 1,500 years ago to refrain from spitting in another’s presence Haggigah 5a.  That’s still proper etiquette today, and we extend it by showering regularly and using deodorant as part of our hygiene regiment. Our desire not to offend those with whom we come in contact in the community continues to rule our bathroom behavior, establishing standards of simple decency that our ancestors would find quite foreign. Let’s face it. With the exception of those few who seek solace in a solitary existence, all of us echo the teaching of Genesis: “It is not good for people to live alone” [this verse]. Judaism has long taught that humans were created as social beings. Hillel’s statement that we should not separate ourselves from the community Avot 2:4 still rings true.  Our generation, for all its privatism, knows well that it is psychologically unsound to spend too much time isolated from others. So the current rage to commune profoundly with our computers, substituting a screen for the bodily presence of a co-worker or friend, is troubling. The virtual reality of e-mail and chat-room conversations cannot match meeting people face to face, when body language, gestures, and silences are often more significant than the words we swap. BOROJMV 55