groisnaches
Well if one doesn’t keep the Torah properly then it is likely bad things will befall him, if someone is not keeping the Torah and bad things are not befalling him it is because he is so far gone (at least he has no interest of ever changing although there’s always the chance to do Teshuva) that Hashem is giving him his reward on this world or he is getting reward based on zechus avos or something.
I am not discussing the ultimate reward for mitzvos which is in Olam Haba but there is a certain good life that Hashem promises to those who keep the Torah properly. Nobody says this is easy but those who keep the Torah properly and try hard usually have a generally good life. I am not saying there arent exceptions and obviously there is Tzadik v’Ra lo but it takes a lot to be on the madreiga of being a “Tzadik” that we should apply this to him.
“How good is good enough? There are people who go mad hoping that if they continuously improve, their dreams will be realized and then they are not. This sometimes pushes them totally off, mentally and religiously. Not good.”
I dont know how good good enough is, but people today have set very low standards of good. There are many people walking around thinking they are good Jews because they do some things right. That doesnt make you a good Jew. If you do aveiros on a regular basis, things that you know you shouldnt do but dont try to change, or things that you dont know you shouldnt do because you never open a sefer you arent a good Jew. And for all the people who think they are wonderful but their wives and daughters dress like I dont want to say what you arent a good Jew and if you wife and children generally arent keeping the Torah they should and you havent tried to help the situation or allowed it to happen you arent a good Jew.
So being good means keeping the Torah, all of it, or rather whatever mitzvos are still applicable from the 613 bizman Hazeh. But the truth is its not enough to keep the mitzvos, they also need to be done with a positive attitude. Hashem doesnt need anyones “favors” and Hashem has no need for mitzvos done by rote or worse, with an “attitude” or in a bored disinterested fashion.
Being a Torah Jew requires a lot of effort and study, so no its not easy, but it is required by Hashem, that is what he wants. He didnt say “only do the ones you feel like doing” they are all binding and obligatory. However if someone is a Baal Teshuvah or went off the derech and is coming back obviously it needs to be done gradually, but for everyone else you gotta keep all of it to the best of your abilities.