In the dreadful tochacha of this week’s parsha, the posuk (28:47) states that these terrible calamities will befall Klal Yisroel, “Tachas asher lo avadetoh es Hashem elokecha b’simcha uvetuv leivov…because you didn’t serve Hashem with happiness….”

Why is not serving Hashem with simcha punishable with such severe curses? Did the person not perform the mitzvos as commanded?

Perhaps the answer is that when a mitzvah is lacking in simcha, it is a sign that the mitzvah was not properly performed. Simcha is caused when a person attains shleimus, completeness. When things are complete, happiness ensues.

When a person performs the mitzvos properly, as commanded, it generates simcha. If a person is not b’simcha when he is doing a mitzvah, it is because he did not perform the mitzvah properly.  

The Torah demands perfection of us. Hashem wants us to follow the Torah without shortcuts and accommodations.  If a person does a mitzvah b’shleimus, then he enjoys a life of happiness. If a person seeks excellence in all that he does, he will lead a blessed life.

With our children embarking on another school year, we find ourselves replaying all our annual hopes and concerns about the new set of challenges facing them. Will they be in good hands? Will they be happy and productive? Will they advance and grow in the right direction?

We wonder what we, as parents, should be striving for in our children’s education. What should the rabbeim and moros be striving for in their holy task of being mechanech the next generation?

The answer, in a word, is excellence. Excellence in all the crucial areas of scholastic, emotional and spiritual growth.

Shouldn’t the quest for excellence be our motivating factor, the force that drives us in all we do and in the way we raise and educate our children?

Every bochur who arrived in the famed Talmud Torah of Kelm was given a middah to work on while he was in the yeshiva. My grandfather, Rav Leizer Levin zt”l, learned in Kelm for seven years. The middah he was given to work on was savlonus, patience. Besides working on internalizing all the ideals for which Kelm was famous, he had the added task of working on that particular middah for seven years.

It is very difficult to change a middah, but if you are pursuing excellence, it is part of a lifetime mission, and you work at it steadily until you have achieved your goal.

With such training, the talmidim of Kelm were understandably paradigms of Torah and avodah.

The Alter of Kelm and those who followed him in heading the yeshiva pursued excellence in their students. They sought to produce talmidim who were the best that they could possibly be in every way.

As one who sought excellence and perfection, he could not tolerate habits of sloppiness and carelessness that demonstrated a lack of chashivus for perfection. Such a person was not worthy of being a student of Kelm. Thus, my grandfather was not only always calm and patient, but also b’simcha, content and satisfied.

The Alter and his successors groomed their talmidim toward the goal of perfection. They sought to produce leaders and talmidei chachomim who had refined their character and avodas Hashem as much as possible. One who failed to return a chair to its proper place, or who dressed sloppily, or who peered around the room during davening, displayed casualness in his service of Hashem that was at odds with a Jew’s duty in this world – to be a perfection-seeker.

That pursuit of excellence is lacking in our world. That ambition and drive to excel in every middah nechonah and in the study of Torah and performance of avodah is hard to find. Too many of us are pragmatic about life in general and about our ambitions in particular. We don’t value excellence or appreciate it in others. We don’t demand the best for ourselves in spiritual matters and we don’t demand it from others. We want the best when it comes to material aspirations, but easily settle when it comes to what is really important in life.

There seems to be a general dumbing-down in society. Too many people seem at peace with mediocrity. They seem satisfied with a standard of “good enough,” instead of “good.” They are happy just getting by; the drive and ambition to excel seem to have fallen by the wayside. Pursuit of perfection is no longer at the top of the agenda.

As the school year gets underway, we should try to instill in our children the desire to fulfill their potential in every way possible. We have to want the best for our kids; we have to seek to train them to be the best they can possibly be in learning, mitzvos, middos and in the ideals we want to pass on to them. Every child is different, every person is different, but each and every one of us is endowed with special gifts by our Creator. Our task as parents, teachers and people is to bring out those kochos.

That is why in regard to limud haTorah, we are told that yegiah is so important. It is not enough to simply learn Torah superficially and by rote. We have to learn as much as we can and as deeply as we can.

Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Bechukosai quotes the Toras Kohanim to explain the posuk of “Bechukosai teileichu” and alludes to this concept. Rashi says that it means “shetihiyu ameilim baTorah.” The way to achieve holiness and perfection is by working hard to study and understand every word of Torah. The way to show that we are serious about following the path of Hashem and observing all of his mitzvos is by delving deeply and persistently into the difficult passages of the Torah.

The Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah writes that the Torah does not make a permanent impact on one who takes a lackadaisical approach to its study, nor on one who learns while indulging in earthly excess, or while satiated by food and drink.

The Torah belongs to the one who exerts himself to understanding its words and refrains from sleep in order to learn and understand the word of Hashem.

That is why a rebbi is obligated to teach the same passage to his students several times until they understand it. If they don’t understand what they are being taught, the rebbi is not permitted to get angry with his talmidim, but rather should patiently explain it to them until they grasp its meaning. And that is why a student should be comfortable admitting that he doesn’t understand what is being taught. He should ask to have it explained and reviewed as many times as necessary until he understands it.

One who is too embarrassed to say that he doesn’t understand the material places his pride and fear of humiliation ahead of the larger cause of studying G-d’s word. Such an individual cannot excel. In order to succeed, one must put his own personal considerations and ego aside and be totally dedicated to the cause of Torah.

Greatness in Torah requires total dedication. That should be our inspiration. Only one who is consumed by ambition for spiritual greatness can grow in Torah. Only one who strives for perfection can attain the levels Hashem demands of us. Only someone who performs a mitzvah b’shleimus will achieve the happiness and contentment in life we all so desperately crave.

As our children begin the school year, let us try to inculcate in them the importance of what they are doing and help them along so that they can grow intellectually as well as spiritually. Just as they require nourishment for the proper development of their bodies, minds and hearts, they need proper nourishment for their souls.

Greatness is not inbred; it must be fed delicately and with love to our children and students. It isn’t accomplished overnight. It takes years of persistence and perseverance to constantly strive and aim higher. We have to be there to provide the encouragement and support necessary to sustain the will to make that constant uphill climb.

Every child has the potential for true greatness. As our children start school, and even after, it is our duty to help them achieve their potential.

Many of us have had the experience of taking our children to a gadol for a bracha. The aged sage invariably turns to the young boy and says, “Do you want to become a talmid chochom?” The child nods. The gadol then looks at him with a twinkle in his eye and says, “Az du vest velen, vest du kenen – if you will want to become great, you will be able to.”

Our job is to give our children the drive tzu velen – to want and to aspire to greatness. We have to provide the motivation and the wherewithal for them to want to learn and know Shas.

In order for it to work, we, as parents, need to have the “velen” that our children should achieve greatness. We have to aspire that our children grow in Torah and in the pursuit of intellectual excellence and personal greatness. 

May we merit that our children experience a year of rich progress on the path to an illustrious life, and bring their parents, families and community much nachas and simcha.

© 2007 Yated Neeman.