Friends,
My apologies for the delay. The next assignment is to read pages 41 to 57 in Siddur Eit Ratzon. As previously, please identify middot in the prayers. Also, if one of the middot you identify matches up with what you are practicing, please consider using a pharse from that prayer as your mussar phrase.
Also, please send me an email by the end of next week – that is next Friday – about your mussar practice. Look again at the blogpost in which I describe and recommend various mussar practices and let me know which ones you are doing and how your practice is going generally.
Also, please let me know if I can share your response, either attributed or not attributed, on the class blog.
Also, today is the first day of the month of Adar. There is a teaching in the Talmud, "When Adar comes, joy is increased." There is something about this month when we (may) begin to move out of Winter's darkest and coldest hours, when Purim comes with it's profound but crazy celebrations, that might enable us to rediscover joy.
Joy itself may not be a middah - it is more a state of mind. But learning how to let go of anger (slowness to anger, erech apayim), learning how to discover gratitude (hakarat ha-tov, as we discussed in class last time), learning how to not be haunted by worry and to have trust that things will be ok (trust, bitachon) - these are all middot. If you are not in the middle of another middah right now, these might be things to consider.
Finally, please, please - if you need Jewish teachings about a middah that you are working on, send me an email or call me to let me know. I will help you.
Thank you, and shabbat shalom
