Perfection

While preparing a commentary on “Shoftim,” last week’s Torah portion, I came across a statement by Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993), the noted Talmud Scholar and religious leader of Modern Orthodox Jewry.  He said that at Rosh Hashana we are judged on our efforts to perfect not only ourselves but also society.  We are all obliged, he said, to seek out the injustices in our society and to try to correct them.  

If I believed that on Rosh Hashana the Power of the World would examine my behavior over the past year and decide whether to write my name in the Book of Life, as the tradition has it, I would be examining my will right now.  I’ve done nothing during the past year, if ever I have, to ascend the scale of perfection or to improve the world.

But Rav Soloveitchik’s s statement made me think what I’d be like if I were perfect.  I’d never speak disparagingly of another person.  This morning, when I made our bed, I’d have smoothed over the wrinkles at the end of it.  I’d never burp, fart, or pick my nose when no one was around to see, smell, or hear me.  I’d be unfailingly kind, patient, empathetic, and considerate, and I’d speak only when it was appropriate to do so.  I wouldn’t complain about my various aches and pains.  And I’d leave the last piece of chocolate in the refrigerator for my wife.

And what would the world be like if it were “corrected,” if all the injustices were removed.  There would be no car alarms going off in the middle of the night because there’d be no need for car alarms.  We’d leave our car doors and our house doors unlocked because there’d be no theft.  Nor would there be any more stop and frisks.  Police forces would be drastically reduced, but in a perfect world there’d be plentiful alternative sources of employment for them.  Able people at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid would rise, and the rich would no longer be able to pass on their advantages to their children.  In a perfect world, we’d figure out what to do about those who are lazy or incapable and fall to the bottom of the pyramid.  And of course there’d be no more war and no more increase in global warming.  The industries that produce weapons would reconfigure their machines and find other markets for their goods.  There’d be gender equality in all spheres of life, and the whales and polar bears would no longer have to be saved.  Furthermore, in a perfect world, everyone would be perfect, so that social interactions would be unfailingly pleasant.

If I were perfect, but nobody else was, I’d soon be regarded as a pain in the ass.  If the world were perfect, there’d be no more “causes,” there’d be nothing left to fight for, there’d be no justification for complaint, and life would be irretrievably dull.  But we are so far from perfection in ourselves of in society that there’s plenty of room for improvement, with no danger of attaining perfection.   I think I’ll start with society.

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