Very good letter
While in Torah study this morning, I stumbled across a concept that many of my boxers struggle with. The portion we were studying has to do with an outsider observing how pure Israelite culture was way back when, versus an insider commenting on all that the Israelites needed to improve upon. The article we read which was commentating on the portion is the issue I want to address. It reads: “What is true of Torah and prayer is true of life more broadly: It is crucial to maintain a healthy sense of who we have not yet become. (The point of this, it bears emphasizing, is not to lambast or loathe ourselves but to hold in mind an ideal for which to strive.) When a student wrote to Rabbi Yitzhak Hunter (1906-1980) cataloging his failings and casting doubt upon his religious potential, R. Hunter responded that the student’s letter belied his self-description. It is a danger of religious culture, Hunter writes, that great figures are all too often portrayed as perfect from birth; what is for