Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
What do we miss when we strive for perfection?
Reflection by US Community Manager Carrie Watkins:
"In an iconic line in this week’s parsha, we see:
;וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָֽה'`
`Guard my laws and my rules, so that human beings shall do them and live by them. I am Hashem.`
The Talmud takes this line one step further by adding, 'ולא שימות בהם', and don’t die by them (Yoma 85ב).
This can be understood in a fairly straightforward way - follow the commandments, but not in a case where they would endanger your life.
In Lekutei Moharan, the great Chasidic Master Rebbe Nachman adds another layer of interpretation. He says that the threat to life is not just a physical threat but a spiritual one. The danger of not `living by` the laws and rules set down by Hashem comes actually from striving to follow them too perfectly.
When we strive for perfection, we miss something essential about what it is to be alive.
`אי אפשר לו שיצא ידי חובתו בשלמות,` says Rebbe Nachman; it’s impossible for a human to fulfill all obligations with perfection. Thus, when we strive for perfection, we end up giving ourselves a hard time about falling short, and in that denial, there isn’t space for our full aliveness.
And that’s ok! God gave the Torah to `'בשר ודם flesh and blood humans, not angels. Our imperfections aren’t a bug in the system; they’re a feature of the system. As it says in the Zohar, rachmana liba baye, what The Compassionate One desires is our heart, in all its human messiness.
May our pursuit of living by the Torah with divine imperfection allow us to open up more fully into our hearts and our aliveness."