lightbrite “I’ve had rabbis tell me that people focus too much on religion and not enough on Hashem.”
I’ve heard this statement a few times. I’m not sure about its meaning. Does it mean that some people are machmir just as a way to promote their social status? It’s obviously bad but I wouldn’t call that “religion”.
Maybe it means that some people observe only part what hashem told them to do? Like, hashem wants us to keep halacha but he also wants us to be nice to each other. So by only doing one of these things, we show that we don’t care about hashem’s will in its entirety, but focus instead on some part of his mitzvot?
There could also be a new, modern interpetation. That people care more about where they belong in sociaty (whether they are chareidi, MO, yeshivish, and what percent of each) then what the torah wants them to do?