Soul Trait Studio: Cheshvan 5785

Practice guide for the Soul Trait Studio mussar practice for Cheshvan 5785, focusing on the soul trait of kavod (כבוד) dignity, honor, respect

Photo by Tushar Rathour on Unsplash

Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. 

Come when you can. All registrants for the month will receive the video the following day. Find the current Soul Trait Studio schedule at: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio

Learn More

What is Mussar?

• Kavod, the soul trait of Chesvhan

• 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

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Session Flow

Opening

Holy Holy, Holy Holy (2x)
Holy Holy Holy Holy

Holy is the silence, holy is the sound
Holy is each one of us and holy is the ground

Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh
Adonai Tzevaot M’lo Khol 
Ha-Aretz K’vodo/a

Holy Holy..

Holy are the ocean waves and holy is the sand.
Holy is the tiniest and holy is the grand.

Holy Holy..

Holy is the Muslim and holy is the Jew
Holy is Christian, the Pagan, Buddhist, Hindu too..

Holy Holy..

Holy is our brokenness and holy is our whole
Holy is returned to us, our free and perfect souls

Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh
Adonai Tzevaot M’lo Khol 
Ha-Aretz K’vodo/a

Holy Holy..

Holy is the cradle and holy is the tomb…Holy is the sanctuary holy is the Zoom (Andrine)

~ Rav Kohenet Taya Ma
English verses K’Harriette Wimms and K’Ketzirah

A Prayer before Mussar Study

Soul Trait of the Month

The Journey:

• Last month: Tishrei Moon of Gathering  | Achryaut (אחריות) Responsibility | G’virah (גבירה) Queen/Matriarch

• This Month: Cheshvan Moon of Stillness | Kavod (כבוד) Honor | Mekonenet (מקוננת) Mourning Woman

• Next Month:  Kislev | Moon of Dreaming | Yirah (יראה) Awestruck | Baalat Ov (בעלת אוב) Witch/Shamaness 

Kavod 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)

• Exploring Kavod with Ketzirah (devotaj.substack.com)

• Mussar Yoga by Edith Brotman | Chapter 5 (Non-judgement) | (Bookshop | Amazon)

• Every Day, Holy Day by Alan Morinis | Chapters 8 and 34 (Bookshop | Amazon)

• Mussar Torah Commentary, R’Barry H. Block editor (Bookshop | Amazon)

  • Kavod—Honor: Making an Effort (Parshat Bo, Ex 10:1-13:16)

  • Kavod—Honor: Encounters with the Other (Parshat R’eih, Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17)

• With Heart in Mind by Alan Morinis | Chapter 34 (Bookshop | Amazon)

• In Search of the Holy Life by Ira Stone | Middah 12: Legacy (Bookshop | Amazon)

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

What does kavod (כבוד) dignity, honor, respect mean to you right now.

In this moment which aspect of kavod does your soul need to work on the most?

• honoring yourself

• honoring others

• honoring a specific individual(s)

• not “chasing” honor

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

Text Study

Partnered text study. One per breakout room.

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

Text 1: 

There is a teaching in an old edition of the Kohenet Siddur (prayer book) that “the word mekonenet means ‘one who laments’ but can also mean ‘one who makes a nest.’ The mekonenet represents sorrow, but can also guide us to rebirth. … She acknowledges the power of destruction and the power of healing.”  In this month of stillness where there are no holidays, after we’ve scrubbed and scoured our souls, and we read about destruction and death — who better to help us release whatever we still hold so we can be healed (or healing) through the winter months.

Kohenet Ketzirah Lesser

Text 2: 

Judaism is the religion of human partnership with God to achieve tikkun olam (repair of the world). Since God is completely on the side of life, Jews must be totally on the side of life. Ideally, every act should advance and nurture life and/or fight and reduce death. In this imperfect world, Jews compromise with death. We live with it, we treat its victims, we show honor to the dead by caring for and burying them

Jewish Priests (Kohanim) and Caring for the Dead - My Jewish Learning

Text 3: 

Honor means to recognize the Divine presence in another, to see the intrinsic value and worth of another being. When we honor others, we enter into the presence of God. … any time we establish a real connection with others, we have transcended our ego and moved into the space of Divine Oneness.

Edith Brotman, Mussar Yoga

Text 4:

When you besiege a town for many days,
waging battle against it, to seize it:
you are not to bring-ruin on its trees, by swinging away [with] an ax against them,
for from them you eat,
them you are not to cut down—
for are the trees of the field human beings, [able] to come against you in a siege?

Only those trees of which you know that they are not trees for eating,
them you may bring-to-ruin and cut down,
that you may build siege-works against the town that is doing battle with you, until its downfall.

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 via Sefaria

Text 5:

There are people who are unworthy and yet the Holy Blessed One has mercy upon them. The Gemara explains the verse: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” as that the Holy One says: “This storehouse is for those who are unworthy.” There is a storehouse of grace from which the Holy Blessed One gives them an unearned gift. For the Holy One says: “Behold they possess the merit of the ancestors. I have made an oath to the Patriarchs, therefore even if they are not worthy they shall receive their reward because they are the seed of the Patriarchs to whom I have sworn. I will lead them, therefore, and direct them until they improve.”

So, too, should a person behave. Even when she meets with the wicked she should not behave cruelly towards them nor insult them but have mercy upon them saying: “Even so, they are the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov [Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah]. If they are not worthy their ancestors were worthy and upright and he who brings disgrace upon the children brings disgrace upon the ancestors and I have no wish that the ancestors be despised through me.” And she should conceal their shame and improve them as much as is in her power.

In Search of the Holy Life by Ira Stone | Middah 12: Legacy (Bookshop | Amazon) translation of Tomer Devorah 1:27-28, a 16th Century text by Moses Cordovero (aka Ramak)

Incantations*:

• Still my heart. Restore my soul. DAM becomes DOM, so may I show honor - kavod.**

• I honor all as part of the One. Becoming what I am becoming both everything and none.

• Honor is as honor does. I give honor where due, and leave dishonor and the dishonorable to You.

*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them as affirmations or afformations (aka if-firmations”), if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.

**Inspired by a teaching of R’David Jaffe that was inspired by Reb Nachman of Breslov

Embodied Practice

This practice was created by Rabbi David Jaffe

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.

Feel the weight of your body against the chair or ground.

Rest your hands on your lap or at your sides.

Gently let your eyelids close.

Take three deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

Imagine yourself or someone else as made in the Divine image.

What are you or this other person worth?

How much is your car, your home, your bicycle worth?

You or this other person are more valuable than these things.

Add up all the value of everything in the world and we are worth more than that.

What would it take for you to really believe that?

What does it mean to be unique?

Imagine one ball, and then two, three, five, 10, 20 , 100, 500, 2000, 50,000, 1 million balls all different from each other in some way.

All unique.

This is humanity – we are all different from each other in some essential way.

What does it mean to be equal?

2+2=4

2 pounds of coffee beans and 2 pounds of quarters – they are not the same but have equal weight.

Our souls are unique but have equal weight as Divine.

What difference would it make in how you related to people if you really believed that we have infinite value, are equal and unique? If you knew that you had infinite value, were unique and equal to all others?

Take three deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

Slowly allow your eyes to reopen and return to the world.

 Mitzvah* 

• When you are tempted to curse another person or people, take a breath and experience the weight of this on your soul. Take another breath and release that weight. Take a third breath and recognize the inherent humanity of this person/people. Transform the curse into kavod to help do the work of Tikkun Olam.**

• Greet everyone you meet with respect, including yourself -- when you see your reflection in a mirror.

• Engage in k’vod habriyot (כבוד הבריות) honoring of all beings. Take note of how you treat the human and more than human world.

  • Note, thank you to R’Jill Hammer for this teaching.

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

** Inspired by a teaching of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe

Journaling Prompts:

• WHAT does Kavod / Honor, Respect, Dignity mean to you?

• WHO have you learned your most important lessons about Kavod from, to date?

• HOW do you behave when you are acting from a place of kavod?

• WHICH other soul-traits can help you work on kavod?

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

Closing Chant

Holy Holy, Holy Holy (2x)
Holy Holy Holy Holy

Holy is the silence, holy is the sound
Holy is each one of us and holy is the ground

Holy Holy..

Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh
Adonai Tzevaot M’lo Khol 
Ha-Aretz K’vodo/a

Holy Holy..

Holy are the ocean waves and holy is the sand.
Holy is the tiniest and holy is the grand.

Holy Holy..

Holy is the Muslim and holy is the Jew
Holy is Christian, the Pagan, Buddhist, Hindu too..

Holy Holy..

Holy is our brokenness and holy is our whole
Holy is returned to us, our free and perfect souls

Holy Holy..

Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh, Kadosh Kadosh
Adonai Tzevaot M’lo Khol 
Ha-Aretz K’vodo/a

Holy Holy..

~ Rav Kohenet Taya Ma
English verses K’Harriette Wimms and K’Ketzirah

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