Here is a multiple choice test: Which phrase do you agree with?

1. Half a loaf is better than none.
2. Half a loaf is still a half a loaf from complete.

The difference between the two is that a) is satisfied with what he has, but b) wants to strive for more. The first is a fine attitude toward the material world (“Who is wealthy? Hasamei’ach b’chelko, he who is satisfied with his portion” — Avos 4:1), but is very dubious in the spiritual world. One should always be satisfied with the material things he possesses, but when it comes to spiritual attainments, b) is the preferred way: One should be dissatisfied with his spiritual growth.

Here is a second test, related to the first:

Mr. Cohen says: I am unable to observe all of Shabbos, so we light candles on Friday night, recite Kiddush, and have a special Shabbos meal. But that is all we do. We do not observe Shabbos day. We are nonobservant Orthodox Jews.

Mr. Levy says: I am unable to observe all of Shabbos, so we light candles on Friday night, recite Kiddush, and have a special Shabbos meal. But that is all we do. We do not observe Shabbos day. We are Conservative Jews.

What is the difference between Cohen and Levy? On the surface, none: Their observance is identical. But the difference is in the labels they adopt, for the labels reflect an attitude. Mr. Cohen recognizes that the Orthodox is the way of life he would like to follow — but he is at the moment unable to achieve it. Some day, he might yet move up to full observance. But Mr. Levy has adopted a different way of life, and it is unlikely that he will some day move to full observance. For Cohen, there is still half a loaf to go; for Levy, half a loaf is better than none. (The old joke, “The shul I don’t go to is Orthodox,” has much truth in it.)

Nonobservant Jews are nothing new in Jewish history. There have always been Jews who did not observe one or another of the mitzvos. What became new in modern times was that nonobservance became a religion of its own. They called it Reform Judaism, or they called it Conservative Judaism.

From a bedieved they made a l’chatchilah. From an inability or unwillingness to do the mitzvos, they innovated a way of life. There is a vast difference between violating Torah law regretfully, and violating Torah law as a way of life. There is a great difference between driving through a red light because you are in a hurry and driving through a red light and claiming that it was not red but green.

The root of the present demographic and spiritual malaise of the Reform-Conservative movements, for example, is precisely here: They rationalized. They were convinced that Torah could not possibly be lived fully in modern times, so they made the best of it by saying that this is all that is needed, nothing further is required. Half a loaf is better than none. I knew personally many of their leaders. They were not out to destroy Judaism, but to save it. But they miscalculated: The radical surgery they prescribed almost killed the patient.

This is where they differed from the bearded, old-fashioned, out-of-touch European roshei yeshivah who arrived in the United States around World War II. If the reality was that Torah could not flourish in the present reality, they created a new reality, because they believed that Torah, being eternal, could flourish anywhere, as long as there was a will. And they provided the will.

Sadly, Reform/Conservative felt that a half loaf is better than none. But the Orthodox knew that a half loaf is not a full loaf, and that a half loaf is nevertheless a half loaf short of a full loaf.

There is a lesson here for individuals as well. In the striving for spiritual growth, do not be satisfied with the present condition.

What Dylan Thomas said about the end of life — “Do not go gentle into that good night... Rage, rage against the dying of the light” — should also apply here: Do not surrender and say, “This is all I am capable of doing.” Rage against the temptation to be satisfied. Struggle to move ever higher.

Spiritually speaking, sometimes half a loaf is worse than none.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 758)