There is no such thing as normal for a Torah Jew. There is only Shulchan Aruch
AS one fortunate enough to work in the gedolim/inspiration/biography industry, I often hear the add-on, when discussing a great person, “but don’t worry, they were normal too.” Whatever the attribute being mentioned — extreme generosity, concentration, diligence, selflessness, seriousness — there is always that disclaimer.
Yes, he/she was extreme in that way, but don’t worry.
The implication: Extreme is bad; normal is good.
Which leads me to think that the fact that it has to be said, the de rigueur apology (I always wanted to use a term that would allow me to occupy space in this section of the magazine with the intelligentsia, so maybe a fancy foreign term can be my ticket in. Allow me this drop of pretentiousness — I live in a city where you get parking tickets if you don’t know the language, so it’s not pompous to drop a bit of French here and there) means that we don’t really have a balanced view of… balance.
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