Soul Trait Studio: Tishrei
Practice guide for the Soul Trait Studio mussar practice for Tishrei focusing on the soul trait of achrayut | responsibility.
Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. Practice guides are stored at devotaj.substack.com/s/mussar.
There is no Soul Trait Studio session in Tishrei 5785 (aka October 2024)
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
we are good, we are flawed
we are the breath of an imperfect G!d
~ Batya Levine
Soul Trait of the Month
The Journey:
Last month: Elul | Moon of Making Space | Hineni (הנני) Presence (lit. Here I am) | Tzovah (צובאה) Shrinekeeper
Now: Tishrei | Moon of Gathering | Achryaut (אחריות) Responsibility | Gevirah (גְבִירָה) Matriarch/Queen
AND… the year of Tiferet (תִפאֶרֶת) Beauty, Truth, Compassion
Next Month: Cheshvan | Moon of Stillness | Kavod (כבוד) Honor | Mekonenet (מקוננת) Mourning Woman
Achrayut Resources:
Below are some recommended additional resources for exploring the soul trait of achrayut | responsibility. Sometimes also transliterated acharayut.
Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)
Achrayut Source Sheet (Sefaria)
The Torah Mussar Commentary, Rabbi Barry Block (Page 179)
Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis (Chapter 21)
Exploring themes of Responsibility in Honi HaMagel (Sefaria Source Sheet)
Cheshbon HaNefesh:
Soul Trait for Year 3 of the Shmita Cycle: Tiferet
"The earth brought forth trees that grow fruit with seed within..."
Know that compassion sustains the lives of all beings.
(From Kesher Pittsburgh 5783 Rosh Hashanah Machzor)
What does tiferet (תִפאֶרֶת) beauty, compassion, truth mean to you right now?
Exercise:
Go To: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOxXWnms=/?share_link_id=707398127760
With the year ahead in mind:
Choose one that excites, enlivens, or feels comfortable
Choose one that challenges you
Pay particular attention to the response in your body as you ponder each soul trait.
Discuss/explore how these soul traits fit into your year and work with the monthly soul traits and gevurah, the macro soul trait for the second year of the Shmita cycle.
Explore how these soul traits might be keys to unlock the core soul traits of the Kesharim K’doshim approach or vice versa.
What does it meant to behave with tiferet she’be achrayut?
What does it mean to act with achrayut she’be tiferet?
Text Study
Partnered text study. One per breakout room. What does this teach you or inspire you to discover about achrayut? Maybe also explore what it teaches you about simcha (joy), which is the soul trait on the opposite side of the year.
Text 1:
Shekhinah Adonai El rachum v’chanun erech apayim v’rav chesed ve’emet notzer chesed la’alafim nosei avon va’fesha v’’chata’ah v’nakeh
I am being, I am being I bring the world into being I am the bridge between worlds I am the wombful source I initiate all who seek me I tend the sacred fire over centuries I sustain the abundance of the earth I acknowledge the truth of loss I heal the bond with the ancestors and all life I set all upon the path, even when they are lost I honor all love, even when love has faults I accept with laughter the imperfection of all perspectives I am the Fountain of Life, and I make all things one
~ Yom Kippur Liturgy, English creative translation by Rav Kohenet Jill Hammer
Note: Often called the 13 Attributes of Mercy. Compare the above version to inherited versions of the liturgy and consider what it teaches you about the evolving understanding of achrayut.
Text 2:
יוֹמָא חַד הֲוָה אָזֵל בְּאוֹרְחָא, חַזְיֵיהּ לְהָהוּא גַּבְרָא דַּהֲוָה נָטַע חָרוּבָא, אֲמַר לֵיהּ: הַאי, עַד כַּמָּה שְׁנִין טָעֵין? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: עַד שִׁבְעִין שְׁנִין. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: פְּשִׁיטָא לָךְ דְּחָיֵית שִׁבְעִין שְׁנִין? אֲמַר לֵיהּ הַאי גַּבְרָא: עָלְמָא בְּחָרוּבָא אַשְׁכַּחְתֵּיהּ. כִּי הֵיכִי דִּשְׁתַלוּ לִי אֲבָהָתִי — שְׁתַלִי נָמֵי לִבְרָאִי
“One day, he was walking along the road when he saw a certain man planting a carob tree. Ḥoni said to him: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit? The man said to him: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed. Ḥoni said to him: Is it obvious to you that you will live seventy years, that you expect to benefit from this tree? He said to him: That man himself found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants”
Babylonian Talmud Taanit 23a.15
Text 3:
Viddui - Confession
We have abused,
we have betrayed,
we have been cruel.
We have destroyed
and embittered other people’s lives.
We were false to ourselves.
We have gossiped about others
and hated them.
We have insulted and jeered.
We have killed.
We have lied.
We have misled others
and neglected them.
We were obstinate.
We have perverted
and quarreled.
We have robbed
and stolen.
We have transgressed through unkindness.
We have been both violent
and weak.
We have practiced extortion.
We have yielded to wrong desires, misplaced our zeal.
English translation from Forms of Prayer, Reform Synagogues of Great Britain via Sefaria
Text 4
One way to understand allyship is through a Mussar lens. Mussar is a Jewish practice of self-refinement through focusing on and developing our middot or soul-qualities. When I think of allyship, the middah that comes to mind is achrayut, “responsibility.” The term is related to the word achar, “after.” We need to pay attention to what happens after we act (or refrain from action). If I ignore injustice or power disparity because I’m not the person being harmed, what happens after? If I speak or act (or fail to speak or act) in a way that causes harm, what happens after? Achrayut reminds us of our ethical obligation to keep impacts and outcomes in mind.
Incantations*:
I will recognize my power and let it shine bright. I will use it for good not to give fright.
I am aligned, clear, and strong. I will be be accountable for all I do wrong.
I take responsibility for my actions and my words. I will not shirk my duty and fly off like a bird.🤖
Use these as a starter to create your own affirmation for the month, or entirely invent your own.
🤖 = written with an assist from Google Bard
*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 or try iffermations that frame the affirmation as a “what if?”
Embodied Practice
Use the miro board, or put the names of soul traits on slips of paper, and look at one at a time. Allow yourself to become aware of the response in your body as you think about, say the name of, and explore what the soul trait means to you.
As you review, separate your soul traits into different groups based on the impact on your body. Where do you feel it? What do you feel? Take it as information and try not to judge it. Experiment taking a soul trait from one group and connecting it to a soul trait in another group - does it increase the positive or negative (or is it just neutral)?
Try this weekly during the month and see if you can find patterns in this that will help you in your practice over the year.
Mitzvah*
Stop apologizing unnecessarily – shift your language from “sorry” to “thank you” unless you really need to apologize — then take responsibility and apologize without shifting burden or blame to another.
*I translate mitzvah as “sacred connective action”
Journaling Prompts:
WHO are you responsible for and who is responsible for you?
HOW would you explain the difference between “taking responsibility” and “being responsible”?
WHERE do you need support being or taking responsibility — or letting go of responsibility?
WHAT does the G’virah, the queen/matriarch/sovereign, teach you about achrayut?
WHICH soul traits help you unlock achrayut and vice versa?
Closing Chant
we are good, we are flawed
we are the breath of an imperfect G!d
~ Batya Levine
I want to start by saying THANK YOU for leading this Soul Trait Studio session. It was supposed to be my first time in attendance, but a family responsibility (*Responsibility!*) intervened. However, I'm happy that I was able to watch the recording. I'd love to share some thoughts!
Like several others in the group, I too resonated with the "Radical Amazement" soul trait. It actually made me smile from ear to ear when my eyes met with it!!! I love that this soul trait takes it beyond mere amazement to RADICAL amazement—truly "finding magic in the mundane and divine in the everyday." (My own personal motto!)
I also gravitated towards "Judging Others Favorably."
One of the soul traits I felt repelled by was "Abstinence." I think my negative cultural associations with "abstinence" color my interpretation of the word. I associate the word with restrictions that are put UPON others by external forces; versus abstinence being a choice of withholding that come from within. But I REALLY liked what you had to say about the definition! *Joy of missing out*
I also felt repelled by "Orderly Speech" because I like to give myself and others permission to think aloud, to have safety at all times in unorganized/disorderly speech, to say things they're not quite sure about yet, that they may later rescind or simply no longer believe to be true. A lot of times, it takes saying something out loud to recognize whether or not you actually believe that thing to be true for yourself. But also, when I think of "disorder" versus "order"—and by extension, DISorderly speech vs. orderly speech— I think of disruptors. Dissenters. I think of those people who boldly say what no one else has been brave enough to say; for example, in the face of egregious acts and injustices. Their speech may be disorderly in the sense that it is disorganized/not thought out in advance, perhaps impassioned rather than pragmatic, and perhaps INTENDED to insight disorder. A disruption to oppressive systems (patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism) and our general complacency within them. By all means then, disregard "orderly speech"!!!
With regards to the texts:
I really resonated with Text #1 - Rav Kohenet Jill Hammer's translation. I particularly liked the repetition in the first line — I am being, I am being — a reminder that (from the Kabbalistic perspective) we and all things are a PROCESS. A verb. Not a noun. You are Ketzirahing. I am Sarahing. My mom is Deboraing. My husband is Matthewing. We are never static, never in a state of completeness. Rather all things are always... being.
As an artist who is really interested in exploring legacy-building and our responsibility to the earth and to future generations, I also really enjoyed Text #2. For example, when it comes to environmental responsibility and moving forward with sustainable solutions, it can be so hard for people to remember that piece of wisdom: that we ourselves may never reap the benefits of change, but that future generations WILL, and thus it is our responsibility and HONOR to provide for them by "planting the carob tree" now in our own lifetime.