Perfection and Reality

 Fifty years ago, I as a recently married young man arrived with my beautiful bride in Jerusalem during the week of Sheva Berachos.  We got deluxe accommodations at the home of a relative Dr. Wanderman who also was making Sheva Berchos. Rabbi Bulman who was then Mashgiach at Ohr Someach had consented to come. I had gotten to know Rabbi Bulman when he was the Rav of the Young Israel in Far Rockaway. As an interesting coincidence we had rented our apartment there from the new owner of his former house in Far Rockaway. Everything was perfect. 

Rav Bulman got up to give a drasha. It was the week of Parshas Ki Savo. I still remember to this day the excitement from the guests at seeing the beloved Rav Bulman as many knew him from New York. .  He started out by noting the apparent strangeness of the Parsha discussing the announcement by a Jew that he had perfectly done all the mitzvos and commandments and yet this is described by Chazal as a Confession. He asked why should announcing you did everything correctly be called a confession. The term is usually used only for admission of errors and sins? 

He said this is to teach us an important message. We need to know even when things seem perfect the reality is – even for marriage - is rarely achieved and yet we need to know what the ideal is even if we don’t actually accomplish it but we need to strive for it. 

I found a similar idea in the letters of the Chazon Ish. True moderation is only for those who have strived for and yet have failed to accomplish perfection. Not those who strive directly for moderation

Chazon Ish (Letters 3:61): Just as the unvarnished facts and truth are synonymous so are uncompromising perfectionism and greatness. Perfectionism means to develop something to the ultimate degree. One who advocates moderation and despises perfectionism, his lot is with the frauds or with those lacking understanding. Without perfectionism, there can be no completion and if there is no perfection, there is no beginning. The beginning is with constant questions and replies. The perfecter is the brilliant respondent who orders everything in its rightful place. We regularly hear announcements from well known groups that they have nothing to do with uncompromising perfectionists. They nevertheless describe themselves as being the true Jews with appropriate faith to Torah. We simply note, however, that just as there is no such thing amongst lovers of wisdom as love for minimum knowledge and hate for the very wise there is similarly no such thing as loving Torah and mitzvos moderately and hating the uncompromising perfectionists. All the foundations of emuna, the 13 principles and their derivatives, are inherently incompatible with the lightweight wisdom and superficial life that exists in this world. In contrast clear recognition, energetic involvement; high precision in emuna is the hallmark of the perfectionist. Those who proudly testify on themselves that they have not tasted the sweetness of uncompromising perfection are simultaneously testifying that they are missing emuna in the foundation of religion both intellectually and emotionally. Their attachment is only lukewarm. The perfectionists, who despite their genuine wish to have pity on these doctrinaire moderates, do not honor and respect their opponents. The yawning abyss that separates them is naturally only widened as the result of the disputes that occur when they interact with each other. The only true moderation that can exist is that which results naturally to those who love the perfection and strive towards it and educate their children to strive for the peak. In contrast how unfortunate are those “moderates” who cast aspersions on the perfectionists. The obligation of our education is to perfection. The only genuine protection of the educational system is to be contemptuous and to ridicule those who denigrate perfection. However given the burning spirit of youth it is not appropriate to strongly condemn specific individuals amongst the unfortunates. Instead, the youth should be developed to have true love of Torah that requires personal effort and heavenly pleasantness and they should not have obstacles placed on this road. Those schools that are labeled as moderate schools, they are not successful because of the fraud that is inherent in moderation…