Judaism regards improving character as the goal of life. As the Midrash teaches, "The Torah's commandments were not given to mankind for any purpose other than to refine people" (Genesis Rabbah 44:1). The Rabbis did not say that it is one of the purposes of the Torah and its commandments to improve our character, but that this is their sole purpose.
The guideline enunciated in this Midrash — "to refine people" — gives each of us a standard for determining whether we are leading a morally successful life. Are we growing in honesty, kindness, and compassion as we grow older? If we are not more compassionate and empathetic at sixty than we were at twenty, we have lived a failed life.
— Joseph Telushkin, A Code of Jewish Ethics