Deadly Perfection | Rabbi YY Jacobson

You know, sometimes you see a Medrash, and you're just rubbing your eyes, pretty perplexed, What is this supposed to mean? In Parshas Bereishis, the Torah says, Hashem looks at all of creation and behold, it's good and it's very good. Says the Medrash, טוב, good, that's the angel of life. טוב מאד, very good, excessively good, that's the angel of death. Really? If this is Very Good, you know, give me a break. I don't want this Very Good. I once heard a beautiful interpretation. There's two philosophies in life. One philosophy in life is Good. I want things to be good. I'm going to try, I'm going to put in my effort, I want to be successful and I want to do things right. I hope that this Vayimaen video comes out Good. But then there's another philosophy in life. Very Good. It has to be perfect, excessively good, infinitely good, impeccable, flawless. You know what happens then? Angel of death. That literally kills every dream. It kills every plan. Perfection, they say, is the enemy of progress. If you want things to be Good, that's great. That's the angel of life, that's the way to live, that's going to invite life and productivity and achievement. But if your standard is Very Good, that’s the angel of death. Basically it creates stress and anxiety, because it's never perfect. Not only that, I won't even try. It's what puts a lid and puts the nail in the coffin of so many great dreams and ideas, because people think if it's not Very Good, it's worthless. And they kill the dream, they kill the project. It's also true with life. The moment I cannot tolerate the fact that I made mistakes, that I learn from my mistakes, I could say, I'm sorry, I can apologize, I can rediscover myself, I can learn from my errors, I can reinvent myself, it’s the angel of death. I kill my ability for transformation, for growth. Good, angel of life. Very Good, angel of death. Try to do the right thing. If you do the wrong thing, fix it. When you create a standard of impossibility, you're killing your future.