Shattering the False Image of Perfection

By Rabbi Mark Borovitz

In reading about Brian Williams’ fall from Grace, I am reminded that we, as a society, need to make gods for/of ourselves and love it when others fall from Grace. I am also reminded, as David Brooks writes in the New York Times, “that no matter how many accolades you win, it’s never enough.” Why is this?

I believe that we, as a society, have a wrong vision of perfection, forgiveness and T’Shuvah. There is no perfection, only progress! We have bought into the Greek idea/lie that we can be perfect! How foolish of us, yet we persist in this wrong notion. None of the Heroes of the Hebrew Bible are perfect; all have blemishes and make errors. Yet, we want to think that we are better than, rather than seeing the similarities. This has led to conflicts and wars ad nauseam. Brian Williams kept trying to push his own envelope to remain “ahead” of the competition and the game and the public bought the image because we all yearn for the perfection he was portraying. Herein lies the problem. Until we realize that we are all in a state of imperfection because the final chapters of our lives have not yet been written, we will live with the false image of perfection.

Because of this wrong image, when someone like Brian Williams falls from Grace, we become barbaric in the way we respond, according to David Brooks, and I wholeheartedly agree. The contempt and mockery that has been shown is really a reflection of what we are afraid will happen to us! We have to change our ways. As Mr. Brooks says, rigorous forgiveness balances accountability with compassion. T’Shuvah means that we move into this, both the repentant and the one who has been harmed. There are many stages to forgiveness in Mr. Brooks’ article and I recommend the article to everyone. His question at the end of the article is the most important one: “How do we build community in the face of scandal?”

Being Addicted to Redemption gives me a positive response to Mr. Brooks’ question. We build community by allowing the person to experience the pain he/she has wrought. We build community by seeing ourselves in the penitent. We build community by acknowledging our own wrongs/errors/missing the marks. We build community by helping another person DO T’SHUVAH. We build community by “being like Aaron and pursuing peace” as we are taught in Ethics of the Fathers. We build community by being open and compassionate to the penitent. We build community by accepting, loving and embracing the imperfections of others as well as those of ours. Join me in being Addicted to Redemption so we can make a community/life/world that is always growing and never excluding.