| Greetings!
This is the second in a series of weekly middah emails that the Mussar Leadership madrichim will be sending over the summer. We hope that these messages will support you in your practice until we beginning meeting again in the fall.
We appreciate hearing your comments. |
Steps to Practice
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Step 2
On awakening every morning, remember the middah on which you are currently working. Recite the phrase that you found to help you remember that middah. We will say more on what these phrases ( pasukim) are and and how to use them are in Step 5. |
| Middah |
Menuchat Ha-nefesh/Equanimity
Rise above events that are inconsequential - both bad and good - for they are not
worth disturbing your composure. (Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Satanov, Chesbon HaNefesh).
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Torah Portion
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Sh'lach
(Numbers 13:1 - 15:41)
From the 7th Aliyah
When the Israelites were in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone him with stones outside the camp." So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:32-36)
One commentary on this story is that of the
mekosheish etzim (the wood gatherer) was depressed because
he had just learned that he was never going to enter Eretz Israel. He, along with everyone else of his
generation, was sentenced to die in the wilderness as a consequence of the sin
of the spies. He was gathering wood on the Sabbath because he he no longer thought
he needed to keep any of the mitzvot.
The Mishnah states in Avot (2:18), Do
not judge yourself to be a wicked person. R' Chaim of Volozhin explained
that many times the yetzer hara tells a person, "You have already sunk
to such a low level you won't be able to change even if you try. Don't waste
your energy. Do whatever you want." To help us not to follow our yetzer hara, the
Mishnah tells us not ever think of ourselves as inherently wicked. Teshuvah is always accepted
for any person at any time.
(Adapted from A Daily Dose of Torah. Mesorah Publications.)
Hazak! Hazak! V'nitchazek! |
