<html><head><title>[Aspaqlaria] Lists of Middos</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/wp-content/themes/mandigo-14/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new item, '<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2010/03/lists-of-middos.shtml">Lists of Middos</a>'<br />
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<p>One of the more amazing pieces of history of the Mussar Movement was that Rav Yisrael Salanter, despite his own antipathy for <em>Haskalah</em> (Enlightened Judaism), promoted a <em>seifer </em>written by a <em>maskil</em>, Rabbi Mendel (Leffin) Satanover. Admittedly, Reb Mendel Satanover was from the early Haskalah and was himself a fully observant Orthodox Jew. However, if you think of how Orthdox history portrays Moses Mendelsohnn, about whom the same could be said, and Rav Yisrael’s embracing and republishing R’ Mendel’s “Cheshbon haNefesh” is astounding.</p>
<p>More so, Rav Yisrael Salanter must have been aware of the book’s original source. Cheshbon haNefesh describes a particular way to keep a <em>mussar </em>journal, keeping track in one’s progress in various <em>middos</em>. This format is seasonal, 13 <em>middos</em> to work on each season, and each week of the season focus is placed on one of those 13. One therefore maintains each week a 13×7 graph, one direction marking off the days of the week, the other marking off that season’s <em>middos</em>, creating boxed in which marks can be made counting incidences of success or failure at each <em>middah</em>.</p>
<p>The plan is taken from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. Malcolm Shosha posted the relevent chapters to Avodah, <a title="Avodah: vol 11, num 10" href="http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol11/v11n010.shtml#03" target="_blank">here</a>. The differences are twofold. First and more fundamentally, Franklin intended to create a list of virtues. R’ Mendel Satonover is clear that he is offering 13 sample middos to demonstrate the principle. And although he dicusses each of the 13 at length, at the end of the book he has a short list of other possibilies that someone they may find they have to work on.</p>
<p>Despite this, it appears that there was a tradition that Rav Yisrael Salanter considered a list of 13 middos, 12 of them the same as in Cheshbon haNefesh, to be the primary ones to attend to. They are listed as such by Rav Barukh Epstein, author of the Torah Temimah in his Meqor Barukh. Rav Dov Katz, a product of Slabodka and author of a six book series on the history of the Mussar Movement and the thought of its key figures, cites this list in his coverage of Rav Yisrael, indicating that this tradition had some currency within the movement as well.</p>
<p>Here is a comparison, a list of Franklin’s Virtues with the middos from Cheshbon haNefesh and Rav Yisrael Salanter that appear similar. The order is Rav Yisrael’s so that you can better see how the list evolved to its final state:</p>
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<th width="31%" valign="top">Benjamin Franklin</td>
<th width="31%" valign="top">Cheshbon Hanefesh</td>
<th width="31%" valign="top">Rav Yisrael Salanter</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">12. EMES. Do not allow anything to pass your lips that you are not certain is completely true.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">1. EMES. Never let anything out of your mouth that your heart cannot testify as to its truth.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">9. ZERIZUS. Always find something to do — for yourself or for a friend and do not allow a moment of your life to be wasted.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">2. ZERIZUS. Never waste a moment, to let it be for no positive purpose, and likewise actively do what you seek to accomplish.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">4. CHARITZUS. All of your acts should be preceded by deliberation; when you have reached a decision, act without hesitating.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">3. CHARITZUS. Do what you decide to do with industriousness and enthusiasm.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">4. KAVOD. Be cautious in the honoring of every person, even anyone whose thinking you consider to be imperfect.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">1. MENUCHAS HANEFESH. Rise above events that are inconsequential — both bad and good — for they are not worth disturbing your equanimity.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">5. MENUCHAH. Have a spirit that is at rest, without ever being hasty, so that you can do everything calmly.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">11. NICHUSAH. The words of the wise are stated gently. In being good, do not be called ‘evil’.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">6. NACHAS. The words of the wise are with gentleness heard, so therefore always strive to speak gently.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">5. NEQIYUS. Let no stain or ugliness be found in your possessions or in your home, and surely not on your body or clothes.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">7. NIQAYON. Keep your body and clothes clean and pure.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">2. SAVLANUS. When something bad happens to you and you did not have the power to avoid it, do not aggravate the situation even more through wasted grief.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">8. SAVLANUS. Bear with calm every happening and every event in life.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">3. SEDER. 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.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">9. SEDER. Do all of your deeds and all of your undertakings in an organized and disciplined manner.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">6. ANAVAH. Always seek to learn wisdom from every man, to recognize your failings and correct them. In doing so you will learn to stop thinking about your virtues and you will take your mind off your friend’s faults.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">10. ANAVAH. Recognize your own shortcomings and pay no attention to those of others.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">7. TZEDEQ. What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">11. TZEDEQ. Do whatever Torah says is right, in its letter and spirit, and give in on what is rightfully yours.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">8. QIMUTZ. Be careful with your money. Do not spend even a penny needlessly.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">12. QIMUTZ. Do not spend a penny that is not for a necessary purpose.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">10. SHETIQAH. Before you open your mouth, be silent and reflect: “What benefit will my speech bring to me or others?”</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">13. SHETIQAH. Consider the result that is to come out of your words before you speak.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top">13. PERISHUS. Strengthen yourself so that you can stop lewd thoughts. Draw close to your [spouse] only when your mind is free, [occupied only] by thoughts of fulfilling your conjugal duties [to your spouse] or procreating.</td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
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<td width="31%" valign="top">9. MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.</td>
<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
<td width="31%" valign="top"></td>
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<p>Assuming that on 11 of these the close match was intentional, even though the order differs, you’ll notice that R’ Mendel Satonover dropped two of the virtues: Temperance and Moderation. This was not oversight, as HISTAPQUT (“Before taking food into your mouth, consider what benefit it has for your personal health or the fulfillment of a precept.”) is one of the <em>middos </em>he suggests for customizing the list. R’ Mendel instead added the following <em>middos</em>:</p>
<ul>
<li>2. SAVLONUS. When something bad happens to you and you did not have the power to avoid it, do not aggravate the situation even more through wasted grief.</li>
<li>11. NICHUSAH. The words of the wise are stated gently. In being good, do not be called ‘evil’.</li>
</ul>
<p>In short, two <em>middos</em> that we tend to think of in “religious” terms were replaced by ones that have more interpersonal application. The one difference between Rav Yisrael’s 13 primary middos and those listed in Cheshbon haNefesh takes this another step in the same direction. The middah of <em>perishus</em>, which R’ Mendel Satanover explains with a focus on chastity, is replaced with Kavod, respect for others.</p>
<p>When I was discussing Mussar with a friend once, he noticed my focus on Middos work. He asked if this perception wasn’t a product of our times, where Chassidus, Mussar, or <em>lehavdil</em> New Age and Self-Help work are all seen in very personal, Me-Centered, terms. What about the Mussar of R’ Yisrael, he asked, of dropping everything to help care for people during the cholera epidemic; of missing Kol Nidrei to care for a child left with an older sister who didn’t know what to do for her; of washing his hands with as little water as possible, so that Rav Yisrael’s “<em>hamotzi</em>” wouldn’t be at the expense of the person who had to draw and carry the water; or who said the most important stringency in <em>matzah</em> baking is not to overwork the widows who were employed at the bakery; etc, etc, etc…?</p>
<p>My answer was that yes, Mussar is about building relationships, but the only part of that bridge to others that we can actually work on is the stanchion on our shore. Thus, we work on <em>middos</em>, but Rav Yisrael defined the perfection of those <em>middos</em> in terms of what best aids us to best share Hashem’s Good with others.</p>
<p>And we see that in his list of Middos.</p>
<p>In contrast, while Mesilas Yesharim is a forerunner of the Mussar Movement, R’ Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wasn’t of the same mindset when he wrote it. To him, man’s ultimate goal is the ability to cleave to a particular Other, which was only possible in a particular “place”. And so, in Mesilas Yesharim the measure of <em>middos</em> is how much they will enable me to “enjoy the shine of the Shechinah” in the World to Come.</p>
<p>Are those goals really different? No. As the Ramchal himself puts it in the beginning of Derekh Hashem, G-d created us in order for Good to have someone to bestow that good upon. Cleaving to G-d means being a conduit of His Good to man, and the only way to be that conduit is to stand in His Image.</p>
<p>However, as I note on the “Forks” category a number of times, the difference in focus, in the approach by which we choose to reach for that goal, does create changes in our practice.</p>
<p>See also:</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Aspararia: Lekh Lekha 5757" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/1996/10/lech-licha-5757-temimus-and-deveiqus.shtml">The Sheleimus (Wholeness) – Deveiqus (Cleaving) Fork — Lithuania vs. Chassidus</a></li>
<li><a title="Aspaqlaria: Other Tines on the Fork" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2004/11/other-tines-on-fork.shtml">The Ramchal and other tines on the “hashkafic fork in the road”</a></li>
<li><a title="Aspaqlaria Category: Forks" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/category/forks">The “Forks” category of posts</a></li>
</ul>
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