Soul Trait Studio is the Kesharim K’doshim approach to mussar practice. Each session focuses on the soul trait of the month.

For many years, this was accompanied by a live session on Zoom. Learn more about that at: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Learn More

• Intro to Mussar and the Devotaj Sacred Arts Approach

• Devotaj Sacred Arts: Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year

• Register for this and upcoming sessions: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Monthly Practice

Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

• Opening

• Introduction to Soul Trait of the Month

• Cheshbon HaNefesh

• Text Study

• Incantations

• Embodied Practice

• Mitzvah

• Journal Prompts

• Closing Chant

Opening

LaY'hudim Haytah orah v'simcha v'sason vikar.
Ken tih'yeh lanu.

ליהודים היתה אורה, ושמחה, וששון, ויקר.
כן תהיה לנו.

~ Noam Katz (tune)

Translation:The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor. So be it with us. (Esther 8:16.) Source: Ritual Well

Soul Trait of the Month

The Journey:

• Last month:  Adar | Moon of Revealing | Zehirut (זהירות) Illuminated Awareness | Leitzanit (ליצנית) Sacred Fool

• Now: Nisan | Moon of Speaking | Simcha (שמחה) Joy | Na’arah (נערה) Maiden

• Next Month:  Iyyar | Moon of Healing | Savlanut (סבלנות) Patience | Meyaledet (מילדת) Midwife

More on Simcha:

• Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)

• Simcha: Week 3 Mussar with Me (Devotaj Mussar with Me archives)

• Making Mensches: A Periodic Table (JewishCamp.org)

• Simcha - Joy: Find Pleasure in Life (Sefaria)

• Every Day Holy Day by Alan Morinis

• Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

• Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does simcha (שמחה) joy mean to you right now.

Joy is the inner feeling that emerges from an openhearted connection with an other or others in which the barriers of separation are dissolved. (Alan Morinis)

What does it mean to act with simcha she’be tiferet?
What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be simcha?

Leave a comment

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

Explore what the text teaches you about simcha AND what other soul traits it helps you recognize as being keys to unlocking simcha.

Text 1: 

But making joy holy means being selective in the enjoyment of God’s gifts, not worshiping those gifts or those who own them. The first and foremost expression of this insight is to share the bounty and the joy. Gifts from the harvest were given to the poor: “You shall rejoice before the Lord. You, your son and daughter, manservant and maid, the Levite… the stranger, the orphan, the widow in your midst.”

Deuteronomy 16:11 (via Sefaria)

Text 2: 

I think of Judaism as an ode to joy. Like Beethoven, Jews have known suffering, isolation, hardship, and rejection, yet they never lacked the religious courage to rejoice. A people that can know insecurity and still feel joy is one that can never be defeated, for its spirit can never be broken nor its hope destroyed. As individuals we may aspire to the goodness that leads to happiness, but as part of a moral and spiritual community, even in hard times we find ourselves lifted on the wings of joy.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l (Essays on Ethics, p. 315)

Text 3:

Another part of the Puritan legacy is the belief that no one should have joy or abundance until everyone does, a belief that’s austere at one end, in the deprivation it endorses, and fantastical in the other, since it awaits a universal utopia. Joy sneaks in anyway, abundance cascades forth uninvited.

…

Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism.

And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated, and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.

Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

Text 4:

“Laughter is important. Joy is important. It’s not a guilty pleasure, it is a strategic move towards the future we all need to create. One in which our children are laughing, our children are free. They can go wherever they need to go. There are no borders holding them. That is what I am living and loving for.”

adrienne maree brown, from an interview on Truth Be Told

Text 5:

In trying to articulate what, perhaps, joy is, it has occurred to me that among other things—the trees and the mushrooms have shown me this—joy is the mostly invisible, the underground union between us, you and me, which is, among other things, the great fact of our life and the lives of everyone and thing we love going away.

If we sink a spoon into that fact, into the duff between us, we will find it teeming. It will look like all the books ever written. It will look like all the nerves in a body. We might call it sorrow, but we might call it a union, one that, once we notice it, once we bring it into the light, might become flower and food. Might be joy.”

Ross Gay, Inciting Joy: Essays

Leave a comment

Incantations*:

• I cultivate joy. I am still and at ease. I give myself permission to experience beauty, love, and all pleasures that truly please. (inspired by adrieene maree brown)

• I tap into the underground union between I and we. Joy alight, ingite, and be free. (Inspired by Ross Gay)

• I sob so I may smile. I weep so I may release. Let this be a time for joy and a time for peace.

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

Leave a comment

Embodied Practice

Go for a walk and witness the beauty of spring. Name all the flowers you can. Say hello to them. When you see a flower fruit tree for the first (or 50th time) recite the Birkhot Ilanot - the blessing for witnessing a flowering fruit tree in spring.

ברוכה את שכינה אלהותינו רוח העולם שלא חיסרה בעולמה כלום ובראה בו בריות טובות ואילנות טובים להנות בהם בני אדמה

B'rucha at Shekhinah, Elohutenu Ruach ha'olam, shelo chisra be'olamah klum, u'var'ah vo briyot tovot, v'ilanot tovim, l'hanot bahem b'nei adamah.

ברוך אתה יה אלהינו רוח העולם שלא חיסר בעולמו כלום וברא בו בריות טובות ואילנות טובים להנות בהם בני אדמה

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Ruach ha'olam, shelo chisar be'olamo klum, u'vara vo briyot tovot, v'ilanot tovim, l'hanot bahem b'nei adamah.

Blessed are You, Being and Becoming, whose Presence fills Creation withholding nothing and providing beautiful creatures and trees for all beings to enjoy.

*Hebrew slightly updated by Ketzirah, translation by Ketzirah.

Mitzvah* 

Joy is a practice, so explore practicing "attention liberation" which is taking your attention away from what you cannot change and focus on the helpers.

Then, do an inventory of your life. Specifically, identify the spaces you feel in absolute alignment with yourself and out of alignment “Joy is a practice.”

adrienne maree brown in an interview with Tonya Mosley, on Truth Be Told

Learn more the idea of “attention liberation”

*I use the translation mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.

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Journaling Prompts:

• WHAT does Simcha (שמחה) Joy mean to you?

  • What does it mean to act with simcha she’be tiferet?

  • What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be simcha?

• HOW do you differentiate between joy and happiness?

• WHEN are you most aware of joy?

• WHERE in your body does joy reside?

Leave a comment

Closing Chant

LaY'hudim Haytah orah v'simcha v'sason vikar.
Ken tih'yeh lanu.

ליהודים היתה אורה, ושמחה, וששון, ויקר.
כן תהיה לנו.

~ Noam Katz (tune)

—

Translation:The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor. So be it with us. (Esther 8:16.) Source: Ritual Well

Note: Links to Amazon.com contain affiliate code that allows authors to earn a small commission on purchases.

Soul Trait Studio is the Kesharim K’doshim approach to mussar practice. Each session focuses on the soul trait of the month.

For several years, this was accompanied by a live session on Zoom. Learn more about that at: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Sakranut Resources

Sakranut (סקרנות) curiosity is the soul-trait that allows us, m…

Read more

For many years, this was accompanied by a live session on Zoom. Learn more about that at: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Learn More

• Devotaj Sacred Arts: Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year

• Register for this and upcoming sessions: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Monthly Practice

Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

• Opening

• Introduction to Soul Trait of the Month

• Cheshbon HaNefesh

• Text Study

• Incantations

• Embodied Practice

• Mitzvah

• Journal Prompts

• Closing Chant

Opening

We shall be known by the company we keep 
by the ones who circle round to tend these fires

We shall be known by the ones who sow and reap 
the seeds of change alive from deep within the earth

It is time now
It is time now that we thrive
It is time we lead ourselves into the well
It is time now, and what a time to be alive

In this great turning we shall learn to lead in love
In this great turning we shall learn to lead in love

Soul Trait of the Month

The Journey:

• Last month: Tamuz | Moon of Fullness | B’lev Shalem (בלב שלם) Wholehearted | Immah (אמא) Mother

• Now: Av | Moon of Endings & Beginnings | Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) Courage | Chachamah (חכמה) Wise Woman

• Next Month: Elul | Moon of Making Space | Hineni (הנני) Presence | Tzovah (צבאה) Shrinekeeper

Ometz Lev Resources:

Below are some recommended additional resources for exploring the soul trait of ometz lev, courage.

• Ometz Lev (Devotaj Sacred Arts)

• Courage / Strong Heart (Devotaj Sacred Arts)

• Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)

• Mussar Yoga by Edith Brotman (Chapter 2)

• Every Day, Holy Day by Alan Morinis (Chapters 21 & 47)

• Mussar Torah Commentary (Sh’mot, begins on page 82)

• Making Mensches (JewishCamp.org)

• Maya Angelou on Courage (Oprah interview)

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does ometz lev (אמץ לב) courage mean to you right now.

What does it mean to act with ometz lev she’be tiferet?
What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be ometz lev?

Leave a comment

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

Explore what the text teaches you about ometz lev. What is true courage? What does it require of us?

Text 1: 

יוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹעֶזֶר אִישׁ צְרֵדָה אוֹמֵר, יְהִי בֵיתְךָ בֵית וַעַד לַחֲכָמִים, וֶהֱוֵי מִתְאַבֵּק בַּעֲפַר רַגְלֵיהֶם, וֶהֱוֵי שׁוֹתֶה בְצָמָא אֶת דִּבְרֵיהֶם

Yose ben Yoezer used to say: let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.

Pirkei Avot 1:4

Bringing the wise into your home takes courage, for they will challenge all you hold dear.

Rami Shapiro commentary on Pirkei Avot 1:4

Text 2

Reconsideration is hard; it takes courage. We have to deny ourselves the comfort of always being the same person, one who arrived at an answer some time ago and has never had any reason to doubt it.

George Saunders, writing about Chekov via The Marginalian

Text 3:

We need courage to face tough facts, to confront our fears, tell our truths, and step up to defend our democracy and support those who need us most. As a community, we will gather strength and courage from one another and from the ancestral wisdom that has been carefully taught, generation to generation. We do not walk alone.

R’Amichai Lau-Lavie

Text 4

הֲלֹֽא־חָכְמָ֥ה תִקְרָ֑א וּ֝תְבוּנָ֗ה תִּתֵּ֥ן קוֹלָֽהּ׃בְּרֹאשׁ־מְרוֹמִ֥ים עֲלֵי־דָ֑רֶךְ בֵּ֖ית נְתִיב֣וֹת נִצָּֽבָה׃לְיַד־שְׁעָרִ֥ים לְפִי־קָ֑רֶת מְב֖וֹא פְתָחִ֣ים תָּרֹֽנָּהאֲלֵיכֶ֣ם אִישִׁ֣ים אֶקְרָ֑א וְ֝קוֹלִ֗י אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י אָדָֽם׃לִֽי־עֵ֭צָה וְתוּשִׁיָּ֑ה אֲנִ֥י בִ֝ינָ֗ה לִ֣י גְבוּרָֽה׃

It is Wisdom calling, Understanding raising her voice. She takes her stand at the topmost heights,  By the wayside, at the crossroads, near the gates at the city entrance; At the entryways, she shouts, O men, I call to you;  My cry is to all humanity…Mine are counsel and resourcefulness;  I am understanding; courage is mine.

Source: Proverbs 8:1-4 & 14

Text 5: 

You can be kind and true and fair and generous and just, and even merciful, occasionally. But to be that thing time after time, you have to really have courage.

Maya Angelou, from commencement speech given at Cornell University 2008

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Incantations*:

• As I exhale, fear is released. As I breathe in, I expand and possibilities are increased.

• With each decision, I pause to reflect. I call on Wisdom to know whether to turn right or to the left.

• Forward, backwards, left or right, may my actions be based not on fear — but on what is right.

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

Leave a comment

Embodied Practice

According to Rav Ye’ilah’s (Rabbi Jill Hammer) translation/interpretation of the ancient mystical text called Sefer Yetzirah, the “foundation” or essence of Av is taste.

Imagine a blend of herbs and spices that you could use for tea or in a recipe that helps you build courage when you need it — or if you prefer to think about scent (associated with month of Nisan) maybe it’s a blend for havdalah or as incense or scattered offering. Imagine the taste of each component — what does it bring flavor wise and spiritually? What correspondences do you associate with it? Or do you just choose viscerally?

Here is framework that occurred to me - but use any that you like:

• Foundation: what flavor helps you stay grounded?

• Challenge: what flavor challenges you and help you continue to grow and learn?

• Strength: what flavor helps revive you and make you feel strong?

• Sweetness: what flavor softens your heart so you do not act out of fear?

• Breath: what flavor helps you remember to breathe and release so you can move forward?

What is the experience when they all come together? How does it strengthen your heart? Do you need multiple blends depending on the challenge?

If you are thinking of a tea blend — maybe you use a structure like this:

• Flowering notes. The basic blend includes flowery notes of some sort.

• Placeholder flavor. After adding the flowers (fresh or dried), add a place-holding flavor. This will be the flavor that ties everything together.

• Fruity component. Next, a fruity or naturally sweet component is nice.

• Cooling or warming herb. Especially for summer iced tea, a cooling herb is an ideal final ingredient. In cold months, find one that brings the warmth.

Via The Spruce

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Mitzvah

I translate mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.

When challenged by something that scares you, do a careful evaluation of the actual risks and rewards as well as the course of action you choose to take. If you think you should speak up and don’t — why not? If you wish you could act, but didn’t — why?

Keep track of this over the month, and see if you can continue to create more expansive possibilities.

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Journaling Prompts:

• What does ometz lev (אמץ לב) mean to you?

  • What does it mean to act with ometz lev she’be gevurah?

  • What does it meant to behave with gevurah she’be ometz lev?

• What parts of you feel weak and/or vulnerable?  (Mental, physical, financial, etc)

• What are you truly afraid of? (Seriously, go for it - what scares you)

• When have you taken a risk and it worked out? When have you not taken the risk? What happened?

• Who/what helps you feel and behave with ometz lev? Who/what triggers you to feel and behave without ometz lev?

Leave a comment

Closing Chant

Courage (courage)
my friend (my friend),
You do not walk alone.
We will (we will)
walk with you (walk with you),
And sing your spirit home

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Note: Links to Amazon.com and Bookshop.org contain affiliate codes that allows authors to earn a small commission on purchases.

Soul Trait Studio is the Kesharim K’doshim approach to mussar practice. Each session focuses on the soul trait of the month. 

For several years, this was accompanied by a live session on Zoom. Learn more about that at: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Learn More

• Devotaj Sacred Arts: Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year

• Register for this and upcoming sessions: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Monthly Practice

Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

• Opening

• Introduction to Soul Trait of the Month

• Cheshbon HaNefesh

• Text Study

• Incantations

• Embodied Practice

• Mitzvah

• Journal Prompts

• Closing Chant

Opening

You are my light and my refuge,
Who should I fear?
One thing (One thing)
One thing (One thing)
One thing I ask of you.
To behold your Sweetness
And gaze on your Palace.

Shelter me
Raise me up!

You are my light and my refuge,
Who should I fear?

One thing (One thing)
One thing (One thing)
One thing I ask of you.

To dwell in your house,
All the days of my life.

~ Psalm 27, by Ketzirah haMa’agelet

Soul Trait of the Month

The Journey:

• Last month: Av | Moon of Endings & Beginnings | Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) Courage | Chachamah (חכמה) Wise Woman

• Now: Elul | Moon of Making Space | Hineni (הנני) Presence | Tzovah (צבאה) Shrinekeeper

• Next Month: Tishrei | Moon of Gathering | Achrayut (אחריות) Responsibility

Hineni Resources:

Below are some recommended additional resources for exploring the soul trait of hineni (presence), which is not found in any of Alan Morinis’ books..

• Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)

• Presence by Amy Cuddy (amazon | bookshop.org)

• Running and Returning (Jill Hammer via My Jewish Learning)

• Hineni: ‘Here I am’ and ‘I am here’ are different (Jewish Chronicle)

• Hineni' in Our 21st Century Lives (Huffington Post)

• Hineni: Here I Am (archived from Temple Beth El)

• Hineni (archived from Weekly Standard, 2007)

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does hineni (הנני) presence mean to you right now?

What does it mean to act with hineni she’be tiferet?
What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be hineni?

Leave a comment

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

Explore what the text teaches you about Hineni.

Text 1: 

Hineni is the answer to the call. It literally means, “I am here.” It calls ourselves back to ourselves and also perhaps calls upon the divine within us, aligning us to show up with fullness and aliveness to the task at hand. It is both bowing in humility and rising up in willingness. 

Source: Kohenet Dori Midnight, in an introduction to Nishmat Shoom’s version of the High Holiday prayer Hineni

Text 2: 

Presence… is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential. That’s it. It is not a permanent, transcendent mode of being. It comes and goes. It is a moment-to-moment phenomenon.

Presence emerges when we feel personally powerful, which allows us to be acutely attuned to our most sincere selves. In this psychological state, we are able to maintain presence even in the very stressful situations that typically make us feel distracted and powerless.

When we feel present, our speech, facial expressions, postures, and movements align. They synchronize and focus. And that internal convergence, that harmony, is palpable and resonant—because it’s real. It’s what makes us compelling.

We are no longer fighting ourselves; we are being ourselves. Our search for presence isn’t about finding charisma or extraversion or carefully managing the impression we’re making on other people. It’s about the honest, powerful connection that we create internally, with ourselves.

Amy Cuddy, Presence (amazon | bookshop.org)

Text 3:

Hineni is the kavannah (intention) and hi’nih’ni, a Hebrew word with the same root and letters but different vowels, is more like the keva (form/structure). Kavannah calls us to presence, and keva gives us the structure to take action from that place of presence.

This is different from mindfulness, which is for its own sake. Hineni is being present for the sake of the Divine. It is being fully in the moment so you can receive so you take action in an aligned way. Aligned with who/what? With the Divine, however you understand that. Cultivating Hineni allows us to make each moment one that is important, one that is doing the work of Tikkun (repair) — of the heart, of the soul, or of the world.

Source: Mussar Practice, by Ketzirah haMa’agelet

Text 4

When you first encounter the beauty of a tree there are no words. There is silent wonder. Spacious mind is present in wonder, not words. Your soul, your true nature as spacious mind, is lost when the wonder slips into words. To speak of the tree is to no longer commune with it. Its presence is past, and you glorify only memory. Do not rush to articulate wonder. Simply stand in its presence. 

Source: R’Rami Shapiro commentary on Pirkei Avot 3:9

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Incantations*:

• By the power of wind, earth, and fire - I stand open to Being & Becoming’s desire.

• I am here. You are there. In between, may the world be repaired.

• I am flesh. I am bone. I am sound. I am known. Breathing out I make space. Breathing in, I await.

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

Leave a comment

Embodied Practice

Treat the sound of your name like the ringing of a bell that calls you to full, receptive, and open presence.

קְרָ֤א בְגָרוֹן֙ אַל־תַּחְשֹׂ֔ךְ כַּשּׁוֹפָ֖ר הָרֵ֣ם קוֹלֶ֑ךָ

Cry with full throat, without restraint;
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn!

Excerpted from Isaiah 58:1

Close your eyes and breathe out. 

Say your name three times, slowly – taking a complete inhale-pause-exhale-pause to leave space between each recitation. 

Take another breath and visualizing a shining light illuminating the way forward.

Breathe out and open your eyes.

Listen to the sound of the shofar, which many blow daily in Elul. STS kehilah members Andrine and Xiiam Yaakov broadcast it daily on the page of their synagogue, Havurah Shalom in Portland (Oregon).

You can experience it on Havurah Shalom’s YouTube channel.

Mitzvah

I translate mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.

And Rabbi Yitzḥak said: A person’s sentence is torn up on account of four types of actions. These are: Giving charity, crying out in prayer, a change of one’s name, and a change of one’s deeds for the better. …  as it is written: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be”

(Rosh Hashanah 16b via Sefaria) 

Shed the “names” that no longer serve you.

Claim the “name” that you will be worthy of in the year to come.

Honor the names of those around you. Witness new names they may be growing into and allow them to shed those that no longer serve them.

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Journaling Prompts:

• WHAT does hineni (הנני) presence mean to you?

  • What does it mean to act with hineni she’be tiferet ?

  • What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be hineni?

• HOW do you call yourself back to presence when your heart/mind “runs and returns?”

  • Ve’im ratz libcha l’harheir shuv lamakom - if the heart runs return to the place (Sefer Yetzirah)

• WHEN are you, or are you not able to be fully present?

• WHY are you present?
  

Leave a comment

Closing Chant

You are my light and my refuge,
Who should I fear?
One thing (One thing)
One thing (One thing)
One thing I ask of you.
To behold your Sweetness
And gaze on your Palace.

Shelter me
Raise me up!

You are my light and my refuge,
Who should I fear?

One thing (One thing)
One thing (One thing)
One thing I ask of you.

To dwell in your house,
All the days of my life.

~ Psalm 27, by Ketzirah haMa’agelet

You made it to the very very end!

Leave a comment

Note: Links to Amazon.com contain affiliate code that allows authors to earn a small commission on purchases.

Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

Soul Trait Studio Sivan is on 6/1/2025 from 3-4:30pm ET.
Register for this or future sessions at devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Learn More

• Devotaj Sacred Arts: Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year

• Register for this and upcoming sessions: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Monthly Practice

Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

• Opening

• Introduction to Soul Trait of the Month

• Cheshbon HaNefesh

• Text Study

• Incantations

• Embodied Practice

• Mitzvah

• Journal Prompts

• Closing Chant

Opening

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Hebrew:
זה אמת? זה חסד? זה הכרחי?
Ze emet? Ze chesed? Ze hekhrachi?

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Yiddish:
איז עס אמת? איז עס גוט? איז עס נייטיק?
Iz es emes? Iz es gut? Iz es neytik?

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Ladino:
איז אמת? איז בואינו? איז ניסיסאריו?
Iz emet? Iz bueno? Iz nesessario?

We begin with the aleph and end with the tav. The mem holds all that is in between.
Emet.
Emes.
Emet.

What is true?

—

by Ketzirah, inspired by a line in Mussar Yoga by Edith Brotman.

Soul Trait of the Month

The Journey:

• Last month: Iyyar | Moon of Healing | Savlanut (סבלנות) Patience | Meyaledet (מילדת) Midwife

• Now: Sivan | Moon of Receiving | Emet (אמת) Truth | Neviah (נביאה) Prophetess

• Next Month: Tammuz | Moon of Fullness | B’lev Shalem (בלב שלם) Wholehearted

More on Emet:

• Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)

• Week 50: Emet (Devotaj Mussar with Me archives)

• Making Mensches: A Periodic Table (JewishCamp.org)

• Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings (Chapter 24 & 50) by Alan Morinis

• Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis (Chapter 18)

• In Search of the Holy Life: Rediscovering the Kabbalistic Roots of Mussar by Ira Stone and Beulah Trey (Middah 10: Truth)

• Mussar Torah Commentary , Barry H. Block editor (Parshiot Vay’chi & Yitro)

• Jewish Word: Emet (Moment)

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does emet (אמת) truth mean to you right now.

What does it mean to act with emet she’be tiferet?
What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be emet?

Leave a comment

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

Explore what the text teaches you about emet AND how working with the correspondences and counterweights help to unlock emet:

• Correspondences:

  • Sivan (May/June)

  • Summer

  • Shavuot

  • Neviah (נביאה) Prophetess

  • More at https://devotaj.substack.com/p/sivan-basics

• Counterweights:

  • Kislev (Nov/Dec)

  • Winter

  • Hanukkah

  • Yirah (יראה) Radical Amazement/Fear/Awe/Reverence (soul trait of Kislev)

  • Baalat Ov (בעלת אוב) Spirit Vessel/Witch/Shamaness 

Text 1: 

Shammai would have us make our personal perceptions our guide to truth. On the other hand, Hillel says that we need to challenge ourselves to see truth not only through our own eyes but also through the eyes of another person who is tied into the situation. Surely every groom considers his bride “beautiful and gracious.” Hillel advises us to review the matter patiently until we can enter into the perspective of the groom, through which we will also come to see the bride as “beautiful and gracious.” Hillel’s position guides us away from our typical tendency to see things only from our own singular perspective. He encourages us to stretch ourselves to see things through the eyes of other people. Truth involves not only speaking accurately, but even more important and earlier in the process, seeing accurately. And since truths are often multiple, so must be our perspectives.

Source: Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (p. 169), Alan Morinis

Text 2: 

According to conventional wisdom, we arrive at shared truth only by confronting and correcting each other in debate. But my experience suggests that we rarely change our minds and move toward mutual understanding in the heat of argument. Instead, we become separated from each other, and from the inner teacher, by our fear of losing the battle-and the energy we expend trying to make sure that we win leaves us with no resources for reflection and transformation.

…

Truth evolves within us, between us, and around us as we participate in "the eternal conversation."

Source: A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life by Parker Palmer

Text 3:

Emet v’Emunah

This is true and I believe:

Being and Becoming is what we aspire to,

Love is the covenant.

Being and Becoming is the path we follow

To bring Olam Habah into Olam Hazeh.

Source: Ketzirah haMa’agelet

Note: This is my interpretation of the prayer that directly follows the V’ahavta (and you shall love) section of the Shema in many prayer books, for the evening service. In the morning service it’s called “Emet v’Yatziv” (true and enduring).

Resources:

• Romemu Shabbat Day Siddur (page 74)

• Emet v’Yatsiv, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman (OpenSiddur.org)

• Emet v’Emunah, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (OpenSiddur.org)

• Emet V’Emunah, Romemu Kabbalat Shabbat Siddur (pg 50)

Text 4:

Ramḥal uses the Hebrew term meforsam, “evident,” which refers to those ideas that are known to us by virtue of what we can call “natural wisdom.” These are truths that we recognize on the basis of our innate ethical sensibility and for which we depend neither on extensive logical argumentation nor on revelation. We refer to this type of “truth” as the constitution of consciousness, as opposed to the content of consciousness.

Source: A Responsible Life: The Spiritual Path of Mussar, page 45

Text 5:

Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.

But what if I could know the truth
And say just how I feel?
I think I’d learn a lot that’s real
About freedom.

I’m learning to sing a sad song when I’m sad.
I’m learning to say I’m angry when I’m very mad.
I’m learning to shout,
I’m getting it out,
I’m happy, learning
Exactly how I feel inside of me.
I’m learning to know the truth.
I’m learning to tell the truth.
Discovering truth will make me free.

Source: Mr. Rogers (aka Fred M. Rogers)

Resources: “The Truth Will Make You Free” (1985)

Text 6:

A deep story is a feels-as-if story—it’s the story feelings tell, in the language of symbols. It removes judgment. It removes fact. It tells us how things feel. Such a story permits those on both sides of the political spectrum to stand back and explore the subjective prism through which the party on the other side sees the world. And I don’t believe we understand anyone’s politics, right or left, without it. For we all have a deep story.

There are many kinds of deep story, of course. Lovers come to know each other’s childhood in order to understand how it feels to be the other person; they learn a personal deep story. Foreign leaders and diplomats try to understand national deep stories in order to relate more effectively to world leaders. They gather international deep stories.

Arlie Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land

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Incantations*:

• May I be aware of truth and the masks that we wear. Let truth be revealed and our falsehoods laid bare.

• May my dreams be 1/60 of prophecy and my truth be 1/60 of the world to come.

• Like a match reveals the flame, as I clap three times the truth I claim.

• Pretty my lips but don’t soften the bite. Let me speak truth but nothing out of spite. (Found on tumblr years ago. Great for enchanting lip balm/gloss)

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

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Embodied Practice

Root emet (אמת) in your body through visualization, movement, chant, or drawing them on your body.

Try placing the Aleph (א), Mem (מ), and Tav (ת) in different places on your body. These letters are the beginning middle and end of the aleph-bet and in Jewish teachings the letters are the foundations of creation.

Where do the letters live when you need to speak truth? Where do they live when you need to protect yourself from someone else’s harmful truth? Where do you place them (or from where do they emerge) when you need to transform reality by reshaping old beliefs into a more expansive truth? Practice so you can use these when needed.

Mitzvah

I translate mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.

1. Hone your Bullshit Meter

   In these times when powerful, powerful leaders are stating blatant lies as “truth” and even the media won’t call it a lie. Embody Charlie Cale or Lying Cat and call it out. Even if you can’t do it to them. Note it. Write it down. Bear witness to the lies and speak the truth, at least to yourself!

   

   “Nah, I got this thing, uh, I'm like the.
   The dog that can smell, uh, cancer?
   Uh, sure. Uh, yes.
   Uh, I'm like that, but with bullshit.”
   ~Charlie Cale, Poker Face

1. Keep a Truth Journal

   At the end of each day, write down the moments you were less than truthful with yourself or others. Take it in as information without judgment . At the end of each week or the end of the month, examine where/why/when you chose to not be fully truthful. 

   [inspired by a practice found in Mussar Yoga by Edith Brotman]

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Journaling Prompts:

• WHAT does Emet (אמת) Truth mean to you?

  • What does it mean to act with emet she’be chesed?

  • What does it meant to behave with chesed she’be emet?

• WHICH truths don’t you experience through your own life and need to work to understand through others’ experience?

• WHEN have you easily told the truth, and when have you easily lied or shaded the truth?

• HOW do you differentiate truth from fact and fact from truth?

• WHEN is it more important to be compassionate than speak truth? When is the compassionate choice to share your truth?

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Closing Chant

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Hebrew:
זה אמת? זה חסד? זה הכרחי?
Ze emet? Ze chesed? Ze hekhrachi?

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Yiddish:
איז עס אמת? איז עס גוט? איז עס נייטיק?
Iz es emes? Iz es gut? Iz es neytik?

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

Ladino:
איז אמת? איז בואינו? איז ניסיסאריו?
Iz emet? Iz bueno? Iz nesessario?

We begin with the aleph and end with the tav. The mem holds all that is in between.
Emet.
Emes.
Emet.

What is true?

—

by Ketzirah, inspired by a line in Mussar Yoga by Edith Brotman.

Note: Links to Amazon.com contain affiliate code that allows authors to earn a small commission on purchases.

Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

Come when you can. All registrants for the month will receive the video the following day. The Soul Trait Studio is cancelled, but you can registration for futures sessions now - no charge but your time.

More About

• Intro to Mussar and Devotaj Sacred Arts Approach

• Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)

• Making Mensches: A Periodic Table (JewishCamp.org)

• Cultivating Spiritual Qualities for Well-Being: Patience by Melissa Buyer-Witman (Sefaria.org)

• Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings (Chapter 14 & 40) by Alan Morinis

• Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis (Chapter 8)

• In Search of the Holy Life: Rediscovering the Kabbalistic Roots of Mussar by Ira Stone and Beulah Trey (Chapter on “Sufferance”)

• Mussar Torah Commentary , Barry H. Block editor (Parshiot Vayeitzei & Sh’lach L’cha)

• Four Steps to Develop Patience (Psychology Today)

• How to be More Patient (MasterClass)

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Monthly Practice

Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

• Opening

• Introduction to Soul Trait of the Month

• Cheshbon HaNefesh

• Text Study

• Incantations

• Embodied Practice

• Mitzvah

• Journal Prompts

• Closing Chant

Opening

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and listen to the wind
All comes together; all falls apart
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and draw yourself near
The rocks are your keepers
Tell them your stories
Now it is safe to be here

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will receive
Life wants to meet you where you are
Not where you think you should be

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will be shown
The love that was always lifting you up
You are never alone

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down child, slow down (x4)

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and listen to the wind
All comes together; all falls apart
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow Down/The Mother’s Response by Kohenet Riv Shapiro

Soul Trait of the Month

• Last month: Nisan | Moon of Speaking | Simcha (שמחה) Joy | Na’arah (נערה) Maiden

• Now: Iyyar | Moon of Healing | Savlanut (סבלנות) Patience | Meyaledet (מילדת) Midwife

• Next Month: Sivan | Moon of Receiving | Emet (אמת) Truth | Neviah (נְבִיאָה) Prophetess

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does savlanut (סבלנות) patience mean to you right now.

What does it mean to act with savlanut she’be gevurah?
What does it meant to behave with gevurah she’be savlanut?

Leave a comment

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

Explore what the text teaches you about savlanut AND what other soul traits it helps you recognize as being keys to unlocking savlanut such:

• Anavah (ענוה) Humility

• Sh’tikah (שתיקה) Silence

• Dan l’chaf zechut (דן לכף זכות) Judging Others Favorably

• Nedivut (נדיבות) Generosity

• Rachamim (רחמים) Compassion

• Erech apayim (ארך אפים) Slow to Anger

Text 1: 

The Hebrew term for patience is savlanut (סבלנות). It shares its linguistic root with sevel (סֵבֶל) which means suffering and sabal (סַבָּל) which means a porter. What could these three words possibly share in common? The answer is that being patience means bearing the burden of your suffering. You tell yourself that I can bear these feelings on my inner-shoulders. holding them aloft and not crumbling under their weight.

Alan Morinis, Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings (Chapter 14)

Resource: Shoroshim (Root Words)

Text 2: 

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (amazon | bookshop.org)

Text 3:

By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (amazon | bookshop.org)

Note: Often misquoted around the internet as “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

Text 4

In Walking: One Step at a Time, Erling Kagge poses this question: “What is the point of moving slowly from place to place?” He replies, “Everything moves slowly when I walk, the world seems softer, and for a short while, I am not doing household chores, having a meeting or reading manuscripts. A free . . . [person] possesses time. . . . [Ironically,] time moves more quickly when I increase the speed of travel. . . . When I am in a rush, I hardly pay attention to anything at all.” To Kagge, walking is not only a slow way to travel, but it has a quality of savlanut. I, too, have experienced the way time thickens only when I slow my pace. On a walk in the woods or in the neighborhood, an expansive sense of time opens me up to the possibility of surprise, creativity, and to noticing that which, in a more frenetic frame of mind, might pass me by.

The Mussar Torah Commentary, Vayeitzei, by Rabbi Daniel S. Alexander (amazon | bookshop.org)

Text 5

We poor myopic humans, with neither the raptor’s gift of long-distance acuity, nor the talents of a housefly for panoramic vision. However, with our big brains, we are at least aware of the limits of our vision. With a degree of humility rare in our species, we acknowledge there is much we can’t see, and so contrive remarkable ways to observe the world. Infrared satellite imagery, optical telescopes, and the Hubble space telescope bring vastness within our visual sphere. Electron microscopes let us wander the remote universe of our own cells. But at the middle scale, that of the unaided eye, our senses seem to be strangely dulled. With sophisticated technology, we strive to see what is beyond us, but are often blind to the myriad sparkling facets that lie so close at hand. We think we’re seeing when we’ve only scratched the surface. Our acuity at this middle scale seems diminished, not by any failing of the eyes, but by the willingness of the mind. Has the power of our devices led us to distrust our unaided eyes? Or have we become dismissive of what takes no technology but only time and patience to perceive? Attentiveness alone can rival the most powerful magnifying lens.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss

Resource: The Magic of Moss and What It Teaches Us About the Art of Attentiveness to Life at All Scales (The Marginalian)

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Incantations*:

• Slow to you is fast to me. May I breathe in right pace and breathe out blessed ease.

• I am attentive and a-tuned. Holding space for what needs to be, may I unlock pathways of creation unblocking what should be free.

• Fast and slow. So on the go. I am where I am, only that I know.

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

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Embodied Practice

Externalization “Patience” as an angel or other being that is your partner.

Whenever you feel like you are losing your patience call it back to you by saying aloud or in your head, “azkirah Achaiyah” (אזכירה אכאיה) I call to mind Achaiyah (the angel of Patience), “yesh savlanut” (יש סבלנות) there’s Patience; or “azkirah savlanut” (אזכירה סבלנות) I call Patience to mind.

Note: Achaiyah is cited as the angel of patience in A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Penderson. I have not found corroborating Jewish sources and don’t remember where that Hebrew spelling came from.

Mitzvah* 

Option 1

Slow down. Practice slowing down to cultivate practice. Intentionally take on activities that require you to act more slowly like:

• Walk instead of drive.

• Don’t skip past songs…listen to the whole thing.

• Don’t jaywalk.

• Make a cup of tea.

• Take a breath before responding to someone.

• Intentionally slow down your speech.

Option 2

When you feel you are growing impatient - make a list of all the benefits of the situation you are in and how long it’s taking to get from point a to point b.

Option 3

When dealing with people who frustrate you and wear on your patience, try putting yourself in their minds and understanding WHY they are behaving the way they are.

Conversely, let yourself think of all the ways the situation is humorous - especially what story you are telling yourself about what else you need to be doing.

*I use the translation mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.

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Journaling Prompts:

• WHAT does Savlanut (סבלנות) Patience mean to you?

  • What does it mean to act with savlanut she’be gevurah?

  • What does it meant to behave with gevurah she’be savlanut?

• WHEN you lose your patience – where does it go?  What replaces it?

• WHY do you lose your patience?

• WHERE do you feel most able to “expand the distance between the match and the fuse?”

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Closing Chant

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will receive
Life wants to meet you where you are
Not where you think you should be

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and you will be shown
The love that was always lifting you up
You are never alone

A river flows from within you to where you will go
The current carries you home
Let your life unfold

Slow down child, slow down (x4)

Slow down, child, slow down
Slow down and listen to the wind
All comes together; all falls apart
Forming anew your beating heart

Slow Down/The Mother’s Response by Kohenet Riv Shapiro

You made it to the end!

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Note: Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon.com contain affiliate code that allows authors to earn a small commission on purchases.

Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month.  The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

Come when you can. All registrants for the month will rece…

Read more

Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

Come when you can. All registrants for the month will receive the v…

Read more

Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) Courage

You’ll find many sources that proclaim that the heart in Jewish thought is not just a seat of emotion, but also wisdom.  

Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) courage isn’t about the absence of fear, it’s about doing what needs to be done - even when you are afraid. Having a strong heart might be the point of …

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Come when you can. All registrants for the month will receive the video the following day. The Soul …

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Zehirut (זהירות) Illuminated Awareness

Zehirut (זהירות), the soul-trait for Adar, simply translates as “caution,” but within mussar it has a different meaning which is illuminated or shining awareness. One might think this is a really creative translation – and it is and it isn’t. Remember that all Hebrew words have a three letter root, and the root of zehirut is same as zahar (זָהַר) – to be bright and zohar (זֹהַר) – shining.  This makes much more sense to me, considering that the genesis of zehirut in mussar is this saying: Torah brings to zehirut (תורה מביאה לידי זהירות) – (Talmud: Avodah Zara 20b.10). 

What makes more sense to you – learning brings illuminated/shining awareness or caution/watchfulness?

A radiant light shines within. 

Alan Morinis 

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Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. Monthly Session guides are now stored here on devotaj.substack.com. The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.

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In a Jewish leap year, there are two months of Adar. The additional month follows the month of Shevat. All the holidays of Adar take place in the 2nd month of Adar, ensuring the same amount of time between Purim and Pesach. The additional month is sometimes called Adar aleph and sometimes called Adar bet. This extra month of Adar is a cosmic reset that reweaves the fabric of time and, therefore, space and reality. Because this is a month out of time, there are no counterweights.

Tzavta or tzavvta (צוותא) is an Aramaic word that means connection both in terms of physical attachment and human relationships. According to multiple sources, it is the root of the Hebrew word mitzvah, which is often translated as “commandment” but can also be understood as “sacred connection.”. 

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What is the difference between “love” and being “beloved.” 

• Ahavah (אהבה): Love

• Ahuv (אהוב)/Ahuvah(אהובה): Beloved

Do you see yourself as someone who is beloved or loved?  Is this all the time or does the situation or people change this?  Are you worthy of love? Are you worthy of being beloved? Who/what is worthy of your love and being your beloved?

I know from personal experience that understanding that you are not only worthy of being love, but actually beloved — is something that can shift your foundations. 

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In this month of Tevet, we engage with the soul-trait (middah) of sakranut (סקרנות) curiosity.  In the Kesharim K’doshim cycle of soul-traits, sakranut (סקרנות)  lives between yirah (יראה) radical amazement/awe and ahavah (אהבה) love/beloved.  This is the key to why sakranut (סקרנות)  is an important soul-trait to cultivate and balance. When we encounter things that inspire awe – they can live in our bodies as “radical amazement” and reverence that lead to being a more loving person or they can easily be transformed into fear and cause us to become hardened.

Replace anger with tender curiosity and
re-experience the relationship.

In Search of the Holy Life: Rediscovering the Kabbalistic Roots of Mussar
by Ira Stone

This first turning of the seasons each year, is a perfect time to work with the soul-trait of sakranut (סקרנות) curiosity to explore and understand the state of the “nefesh” layer of the soul.  In Judaism, we are taught that there are five layers to the soul which are developed throughout our lives:

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Hebrew is a very high-context language, which is why translators, who always have an agenda, too often translate this gorgeous word simply as “fear.” That’s right, pretty much everywhere in the Torah, whole Tanakh and other scriptures you see “fear” in English – the Hebrew is yirah (יראה).   It really means “awe that induces a sense of wonder/amazement so overwhelming that we are a bit afraid” — like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. In short, being “awestruck.”  (thanks to my husband for that last bit and “awestruck”).

The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10
translation from Sefaria.org

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Kavod (כבוד) Honor

The mussar soul trait that corresponds with the Jewish month of Cheshvan.

In the world of Mussar, kavod is translated as honor, respect, or dignity.  I think Edith Brotman phrases it beautifully in her book Mussar Yoga:

Honor means to recognize the Divine presence in another, to see the intrinsic value and worth of another being.

Kavod is about having fundamental respect for the existence of a being — simply because that being exists.  This not only refers to other beings, but also to ourselves. Tied up with Kavod are the ideas/soul-traits of “judging others favorably” (dan l’kaf zechut), humility (anavah), and love (ahavah).  Like all soul-traits too much or too little is not ideal. Healthy kavod means that you are not always asking “what about me” or “why not me” or judging your follower count against someone else’s or truly coveting some award or external recognition.  Healthy kavod also means that you respect yourself and set clear boundaries and practice self-compassion, self-love, and self-care.

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Achrayut (אחריות)

In my naming of the moons, Tishrei is the month of gathering. We gather as tribe and as families and we gather our ancestors back to us. It is also the month of the High Holy Days, a time when we take responsibility for our souls as individuals as well as collectively as a community. Tishrei is also the month where we celebrate the critical autumn harvest that would have meant life or death, in ancient days (and still does in many places). While the simple definition of the soul-trait for Tishrei, Achrayut (אחריות), is “responsibility,” it means more than just being accountable for success or failures of your own decisions. The deeper layer of Achrayut (אחריות) is knowing that we are called to address the needs of others.

“Just as my ancestors planted trees for me, I too am planting trees for my descendants”

Taanit 23a.15

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Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) Courage

Av is the Moon of Beginnings and Endings in my naming of the moons.  This is the month where we have our communal day of mourning on the 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av) that commemorates the fall of the Temple and a variety of other moments of painful cataclysmic changes to the Jewish people over several millennia.  After a few days of healing, we are presented with the holiday of Tu B’Av which celebrates the ancient grape harvest and was a time when young women would wear borrowed white dresses and dance, frolic, and partner up with young men or desired partner of any gender.

In the teachings of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, Av is the month of the Chochamah (חכמה) Wise Woman netivah – archetype or pathway of the Divine.  At times of great change we both need to be open to wisdom and they are times where we have the opportunity to gain wisdom.  It both takes courage to be wise and open to wisdom of others and being courageous also requires wisdom.

You have to know when to be afraid and when to not let that fear stop you. And love – well that is total courage because you are opening your heart to someone and risking being hurt. 

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Weaver of the Worlds our Connection and Foundation, source of compassion and forgiveness, we offer gratitude and great respect to you, holy one of our ancestors, as well as to the elements, unseen beings, plants and animals, indigenous people and refugees everywhere, and to our bright and benevolent ancestors.

We offer gratitude and great respect to our many teachers of the human and more than human world, who teach through their words, their actions, and their presence.

Thank you for revealing some of the mysteries of your way through the practices of Mussar.

May each of us, in our right way and pace, engage our soul’s curriculum and embrace the gifts of each middah (soul trait) and the interconnections between them. 

May each of us, in our right way and pace, engage our soul’s curriculum to understand the burden of each middah (soul trait) when it is out of balance or engaged in an unhealthy way.

May each of us, in our right way and pace, engage our soul’s curriculum for the liberation of all people and the good of all beings.

Please forgive the times we have missed the mark whether through thoughtlessness, unkindness, or exhaustion.

It is a blessing to better know ourselves, understand the impact of our choices on ourselves and others, and know that by striving to be agents of holy change — we are part of the re-weaving of creation.

Blessed are you who creates endless opportunities for us to choose holiness.

V’eimru: Amen

By Kohenet Ketzirah haMa’agelet

Inspired by A Prayer before Torah Study, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l and is shared by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.