A must-read post by Mark/PsychoToddler on living up to one’s own standards

If my non-North American readers will forgive the baseball expression, Mark/PT has just hit another one out of the ballpark. If you haven’t the post in which he hit one out of the ballpark the first time, go here. This post, and today's, seem to have ended up being an accidental series, since the first post was not written with a related post on a different blog in mind.

The “money quote” from today’s post:

“You’re starting to think that putting on a uniform equates with higher frumkeit, and you’re confused about me being more stringent with certain things while still not adopting the “levush.” Well the truth is that I allowed my resentment of that attitude to be a barrier that prevented me from observing Judaism correctly. I came from a background of Modern Orthodoxy, where people who went to movies and rock concerts still managed to make it to minyan twice a day and could layn and lead the services, and from that perspective I have been a disappointment. It’s not a matter of me being yeshivish or chassidish and failing to live up to THOSE standards. It’s that I have my OWN standards and have failed to live up to even those.”

Tse u-l’mad, go and study. And don’t forget to read the comments.