It makes all the difference in the world who you believe represents human perfection. And it seems to make little or no difference what your opinions are about theology. That is you might think that the Gra represents human perfection. Well then you will try to learn Torah as much as possible and try to keep it to the best of your ability. It won't make any difference why you think that. And your theology about what is it that makes a tzadik/ saint special.
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It is just the choice of one tzadik or another that will affect things. And it will also make great deal of difference what that tzadik said or did. And this will apply in the wide world. Some people think Buddha was the peak and their actions and world view will be affected much more by that choice of a tzadik than by what they think about G-d or if the tzadik was holy.
Of course it makes a difference what is reported about that person that people follow.
But all this so far is only dependent on the subjects. It is possible that whether the person people follow was objectivity a tzadik also make a difference.
The basic idea here is that people choice some one they admire to follow. And that choice will determine all subsequent actions--not their abstract philosophy or world view.
I should mention I have a personal approach to this issue. There is one person I admire above all. That is my Dad. Or perhaps I should say my Mom and Dad. The reason is not that they had all human perfection. But they had this unique approach called "be a mensch" or a decent human being. But being a mensch means so much more. It was a kind of balanced approach. An approach in which one could recognize many aspects of human perfection and admire them and aspire to them. The list of great people to admire in my home were Moses, Albert Einstein, Mozart, Plato etc. There would have been no reason to claim just one of these people had all perfection.
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It is just the choice of one tzadik or another that will affect things. And it will also make great deal of difference what that tzadik said or did. And this will apply in the wide world. Some people think Buddha was the peak and their actions and world view will be affected much more by that choice of a tzadik than by what they think about G-d or if the tzadik was holy.
Of course it makes a difference what is reported about that person that people follow.
But all this so far is only dependent on the subjects. It is possible that whether the person people follow was objectivity a tzadik also make a difference.
The basic idea here is that people choice some one they admire to follow. And that choice will determine all subsequent actions--not their abstract philosophy or world view.
I should mention I have a personal approach to this issue. There is one person I admire above all. That is my Dad. Or perhaps I should say my Mom and Dad. The reason is not that they had all human perfection. But they had this unique approach called "be a mensch" or a decent human being. But being a mensch means so much more. It was a kind of balanced approach. An approach in which one could recognize many aspects of human perfection and admire them and aspire to them. The list of great people to admire in my home were Moses, Albert Einstein, Mozart, Plato etc. There would have been no reason to claim just one of these people had all perfection.
