No one but Hashem knows His cheshbonos. I think it is time for ALL of us to be a little less arrogant about who is a better Jew and who is superior. The poshuteh Yid might be sitting right next to the Rosh Yeshivah in Olam Haba, for reasons known only to Hashem. We can only do the best we can do, and always strive to do better.
But “better” is a matter of opinion SOME of the time. One person might feel it means the person uses a “better” hashgocha or goes to a “better” yeshivah. Someone else might feel it means to be a better human being, doing more chessed, donating of oneself, not only of one’s money.
If you buy a more expensive esrog, that does not make you a better Jew. It just means you were B”H able to afford to buy it. Other people might choose to use that additional money (assuming it is not available off a money tree)to give to someone else to be able to afford to buy ANY esrog, much less a gorgeous Hidur Mitzvah one (and I KNOW the wealthier people ARE giving tzedaka, too, but it is so much easier for them to do so than for someone who has a little less in their wallet, and we do, after all, believe that lifum tz’arah agrah). Everything is relative.
Our actions and sincerity make us better people, not the shul in which we daven, the chumros we adopt, the lateness of our sedarim. But again, only Hashem Knows how to credit us for all of that. Hashem gave us the mitzvos in order to make us better people and better Jews. I believe that the second we view ourselves as superior to another FRUM and ehrliche yid, we already demonstrate that we are not. Just one gal’s opinion.