We'll add that one should make sure that his home is a machaneh Yisrael. Today, one can be in his own home and not be at all within machaneh Yisrael, r"l, as this is known.
Therefore, this is a reminder of the importance of remaining among good Yidden and of avoiding going outside of the Jewish camp. During vacation, people are encouraged to stroll solely within ישראל מחנה.
Make sure you have a minyan where you are, and even better, try to go somewhere with a beis medresh, as well. Be among good influences because wandering outside the Jewish camp leads to sin.
Surroundings have a significant influence on people.
The Gaon of Lisa (the author of Nesivos HaMishpat) in his sefer Nachlas Yaakov (Korach) writes that it states (Bereishis 12:11) לָבוֹא הִק ְרִיב ֶׁרכַּאֲש וַיְהִי מ ַרְאֶה יְפַת ָּׁהאִש כִּי יָדַעְתִּי נָא ה ִנֵּה אִשְׁתּוֹ שָׂרַי אֶל וַיֹּאמֶר מ ִצְר ָיְמָהְּאָת, "It happened, as [Avram] was about to enter Mitzrayim, he said to his wife Sarai, 'See now I have known that you are a beautiful woman.'"
The Gemara (brachos 20a) tells that Reb Yochanan said that he isn't afraid of the yetzer hara, because women appear to him like white ducks. So if that is how it was for Reb Yochanan, it was certainly so with Avraham Avinu, who was "probably a thousand madreigos higher." Nevertheless, when he went down to Mitzrayim, הארץ ערות, he said ְּאָת מ ַרְאֶה יְפַת ָּׁהאִש כִּי יָדַעְתִּי נָא ה ִנֵּה, he recognized Sarah's beauty.
How did this happen to him? The answer is that the place was הארץ ערוות, a very tamei place, and this was mashpiah even on Avraham Avinu.
A similar lesson is written by the Chasam Sofer (Toras Moshe, Vayigash), to explain the pasuk (Bereishis 47:4) מ ִרְעֶה אֵין כִּי בָּאנוּ בָּאָרֶץ לָגוּר פ ַּרְעֹה אֶל וַיֹּאמ ְ רוּ נָא יֵשְׁ בוּ וְעַת ָּה כְּנָעַן בְּאֶרֶץ הָרָעָב כָבֵד כִּי לַעֲבָד ֶיךָ ֶׁראֲש לַצֹּאן ֶׁןגֹּש בְּאֶרֶץ עֲבָד ֶיךָ, "The [brothers of Yosef] said to Pharah, "We have come to sojourn in the land, since there is no grazing for your servant's flocks for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, if you please, allow your servants to dwell in the region of Goshen."
Notice that in this pasuk, they begin with לָגוּר, which means a sojourn, to be in a land for a short time, and then they said יֵשְׁ בוּ וְעַת ָּה ֶׁןגֹּש בְּאֶרֶץ עֲבָד ֶיךָ נָא, which means to dwell permanently in Goshen.
The Chasam Sofer writes, "First, their intention was לגור, to live there for a short time. After they came to the impure air, they began to think לישב, to live there permanently."
Obviously, we don't have any perception into the greatness and holiness of the שבטי ה"ק, but we learn how much a person should be cautious not to go to a place that is outside the machaneh Yisrael, the Jewish camp.
In contrast, we can learn from this week's parashah the immense kedushah that comes to those who are in holy places, as it states (24:5-6) יַע ֲקֹב אֹהָל ֶיךָ ט ּ ֹבוּ מַה נָהָר עֲלֵי כְּגַנֹּת נִט ָּ יוּ כִּנְח ָלִים ,יִשְׂרָאֵל מִש ְׁכְּנֹת ֶיךָ, "How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisrael. Stretching out like rivers..." The pasuk refers to the batei midrashim of the Jewish nation, and the pasuk is compared to נָהָר עֲלֵי ּגַנֹּת, to a river.
Chazal say, "What is the connection between a river and batei midrashim? Just as a river raises people from tumah to taharah, so too are the batei midrashim. People come in, full of aveiros, and they come out pure.
The Rema m'Pano (ח"כ 'ה צבאות מאמר) shows the holiness of a beis medresh from the pasuk (Bereishis 25:27) אֹה ָלִים ישֵׁב ת ָּם אִישׁ וְיַע ֲקֹב. He writes, "From all of Yaakov's merits – his Torah, his good deeds, which were so many – the Torah only mentions אֹה ָלִים ישֵׁב, that Yaakov sat in the tents of Torah and tefillah. This is because sitting in a beis medrash or a beis kneses, even when he doesn't daven or learn there, the mitzvah is very great. As it states (Tehillim 84:5) ָבֵיתֶך יוֹשְׁבֵי אַשְׁרֵי, 'Praiseworthy are those who sit in Your house.'סֶּלָה יְה ַלְלוּךָ עוֹד, even greater will be their reward when they sit in Your house and praise Your name."
