What are you going to do? We began with Aristotle on Monday, so let’s briefly return to him. The influential, ancient philosopher devised an expansive principle around the state of being that he called eudemonia—a condition of fulfillment and well-being. He taught that a person in pursuit of wisdom, focused on virtue, and who takes pleasure in one’s existence, is achieving eudemonia. Happiness, virtue, and balance are linked. Taking a page from Aristotle’s teachings, the ideas of the Mussars are not focused on self-denial or stoicism. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746) wrote that “God wants each person to complete himself, body and soul.”  To complete oneself is to be whole, in Hebrew shalem (related to the familiar word: shalom). Rabbi Alan Morinis, the scholar most responsible for bringing Mussar teachings into Reform Judaism, challenges practitioners of Mussar to strive for wholeness by balancing the middot (see Wednesday). Shalom and shalem are linked. Mussar teaches that pursuing wholeness (balancing middot) in [...]

The Middot: Traits to Balance Mussar teachings speak of balance. If I ask you when you’ve felt out of balance, chances are you can think of times when you felt a lack of control, perhaps confronted illness, or maybe when you just had a general feeling of being unsettled. This past year we can all point to times when events in the world around us upset our balance and pushed us back on our heels.  Striving to restore balance, even in the face of personal upset or world affairs, is a central feature of Mussar teachings. As we seek to achieve that internal balance, our interactions with others are not only more meaningful, they are also more virtuous. The teachers of Mussar identified traits, or middot, that they understood as being two opposing characteristics that we must strive to balance. Both must exist in tension, but when one or the other becomes [...]

Ethics in Practice: Introducing Mussar   There’s a beautiful prayer that begins the morning service: אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַֽתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא אַתָּה בְרָאתָהּ אַתָּה יְצַרְתָּהּ אַתָּה נְפַחְתָּהּ בִּי וְאַתָּה מְשַׁמְּ֒רָהּ בְּקִרְבִּי My God! the soul which You bestowed in me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. I’ve thought a great deal about how one introduces the concept of “soul” to children.  We adults hardly agree on what constitutes the soul, how can we convey such a vague idea to our young learners? I use the Socratic method by asking guided questions that encourage them to think more deeply and make connections that will allow them to build the foundations of their own future spirituality. When leading children’s services and preparing to sing the prayer above, called “Elohai Neshama,” I’ll ask what makes them truly unique: “What makes [...]

Aristotle, Maimonides, and Jewish Ethics It may surprise you to learn that one of the most influential figures in Jewish thought was not Jewish. He lived, taught, and wrote during what is believed to be a particularly fraught and important time in Jewish history—though it is one that is shrouded in the haze of time and a dearth of documentation. When Alexander (356-323 BCE) conquered the Holy Land in about 333 BCE, he brought many of the cultural and intellectual elements of Greek society. He introduced Jewish society to the Greek wisdom and philosophy of Alexander’s teacher, Aristotle (384-322 BCE). And so, with the developing Jewish taste for all things Greek, an appetite for the teachings of Aristotle also blossomed in souls of educated Jews. It's no exaggeration to say that Judaism, as we know it, owes much to this encounter. Centuries later, Maimonides (1138–1204 CE), one of Judaism's [...]