| Greetings!
There will be no Mussar Pathways classes on September 22 because of the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe). Classes will resume on Tuesday, September 29.
In
this edition of Mussar Leadership Weekly Middah we continue to focus on the middot
that the Mussar Pathways students are observing, Seder/Order.
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the Book of Life! Leshanah tovah tikatevu vetechatemu b'Sefer Hayim!
Sincerely,
The Madrichim |
Steps to Practice
|
Step 2
Set a specific time and
place for daily Mussar work. Late at night or early in the morning,
when most everyone else is asleep, is the time of least distraction.
Whatever time you set, keep it consistently. Use the time to review
your previous day in terms of your middah. Focus on how your practice
of your middah affects others in your life.
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| Middah |
Orderliness | Seder | סֵדֶר
All of your actions
and possessions should be orderly - each and every one in a set place and at a
set time. Let your thoughts always be free to deal with that which lies ahead
of you.
(Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Satanov, Chesbon HaNefesh).
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| Psukim |
A pasuk (plural, psukim)
is a scriptual verse. It is a good practice to find a pasuk that
reminds you of your middah and repeat it (or sing it, if possible) to
help in cultivating that character trait.
The word seder occurs only
once in the Tanach, and then in the plural as a negative when Job
eludes to death as "the land of utter darkness, like the deepest
darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder (לֹא סְדָרִים), where even the light is like darkness" ( Job 10:22). What psukim can you suggest for this week's middah - Seder (Orderliness)? Please mail them to us. |
Torah Portion
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Ha'Azinu - Shabbat Shuva
(The Sabbath of Repentance)
Torah - Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:52
Haftarah - Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20;
Joel 2:15-27
We read in the haftarah for Shabbat Shuva, "We will never again say, 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made" (Hosea 14:4).
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|
Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe)
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Rabbi Yisrael Salanter
and the Shoemaker
Everyone was ready for the
High Holy days and Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was on his way to the synagogue when
he heard hammer blows. The sound came from a still-lit attic workshop where the
town cobbler still toiled. Reb Yisrael stole up to that attic and watched the
shoemaker bent over his unfinished work. These were the townspeople's shoes
which they would need for the incoming
winter.
"What are you doing here
still working at this late hour before the holiday?"
The shoemaker raised his head
and replied: "As long as the candle is still burning there is still time to fix
things" [ tikkun].
So Reb Yisrael went out into
the streets of the town and cried out, "Jews! As long as the candle [of your
souls] still burns there is still time to fix the world!" [ Tikkun Olam].
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