{"id":1255,"date":"2020-11-21T16:14:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T16:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=1255"},"modified":"2020-11-21T16:14:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T16:14:38","slug":"the-journey-of-the-soul-mnuchat-hanefesh-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/the-journey-of-the-soul-mnuchat-hanefesh-6","title":{"rendered":"The Journey of the Soul – M\u2019nuchat HaNefesh 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Journey of the Soul<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05bc\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

M\u2019nuchat HaNefesh\u2014Equanimity<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Calmness of Soul<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 6<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/em>\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c2\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05d7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8<\/span><\/p>\n

A-dnai sifatai tiftach, ufi yagid tehilatecha<\/em>\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

G\u2011d, Open my lips, that my mouth can declare Your praise<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

M\u2019nuchat HaNefesh\u2014Equanimity:<\/span><\/p>\n

Calming the Soul amid the Storms of Life<\/span><\/p>\n

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When one\u2019s mind is settled then man has free choice and the control over his spirit to take the time to focus his thoughts upon exercising his sovereignty [over his animal spirit] and to devise strategies that activate and restrain his animal spirit for his personal benefit in this world and in the World to Come.\u00a0 Cheshbon HaNefesh \u00a0Rabbi Mendel of Satanov Feldheim page 109<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mishlei (Proverbs) 17.3<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05de\u05b7\u05e6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05e3 \u05dc\u05b7\u05db\u05bc\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05e3 \u05d5\u05b0\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d6\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b9\u05d7\u05b5\u05df \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b9\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4<\/span><\/p>\n

The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the HaShem Tests the hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Who may abide the day of His coming?<\/span><\/p>\n

And who shall stand when He appears?<\/span><\/p>\n

For He is like a refiner’s fire.\u00a0 Malachi 3.2<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mishlei (Proverbs) 20.27<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05e0\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05b9\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05de\u05b7\u05ea \u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05dd \u05d7\u05b9\u05e4\u05b5\u05e9\u05c2 \u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05dc \u05d7\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05e8\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d1\u05b8\u05d8\u05b6\u05df<\/span><\/p>\n

The spirit of man is the candle of the L-rd, It seeks out all the inner most recesses..<\/span><\/p>\n

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HaShem Judges us based on our heart and the effort and difficulties faced by each of us.\u00a0 The only way to acquire calmness of soul is by working on each of our character traits in order to refine them and release the sparks of holiness in each and every part of our soul.\u00a0 There are many Mussar books that list and describe different aspects of our souls and we can use these tools to work on our refining process.\u00a0 The goal of Mussar is refining our character, refining the world around us so that all the sparks of holiness that we encounter are returned to their original Source.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are two important principles important to those following Mussar.\u00a0 First, one must understand the process of thought formation.\u00a0 If one does not know or recognize one\u2019s own character then one would have no idea what needs correcting.\u00a0 Character traits are internal expressions of one\u2019s soul.\u00a0 Our thoughts are revealed through our actions and give us a clue about our character traits.\u00a0 We must explore these inner workings of our hearts, our soul in order to understand what needs refining.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What upsets our balance?\u00a0 We must determine this in order to acquire equanimity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved<\/strong>. Tehilim (Psalm) 16.8<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbi Akiva once entered a city.\u00a0 Upon arrival, he sought a place to lodge; however, no one provided him with one.\u00a0 He said, All that G-d Does, He Does for the good!<\/em>\u00a0 So he went and slept in a field.\u00a0 He had with him a rooster, a donkey and a lamp. A wind came and extinguished the lamp, a cat came and ate the rooster, a lion came and ate the donkey. Said he: Everything that G-d does, He Does for good<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/em>That night, an army came and took the entire town captive. Rabbi Akiva said to his disciples: Did I not tell you that everything that G-d Does, He Does for good<\/em>?\u00a0 (If the lamp had been lit, the army would have seen me; if the donkey would have brayed or the rooster would have called, the army would have come and captured me.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rabbi Akiva had a donkey, a rooster, and a lamp with him. A donkey represents our animal instincts. It symbolizes pure materialism without spirituality. A rooster has the ability to distinguish between night and day. In fact, one word for rooster in Hebrew (sechvi) which also means insight, and consequently symbolizes our own intellectual capacities. Therefore the rooster in Rabbi Akiva’s story is a metaphor for our intellectual yearning. We all strive for perfection in our understanding of the world. The lamp symbolizes our spiritual pursuits, as the Torah says, The lamp is a mitzvah and the Torah is light<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We are always striving for the perfect balance between our material needs and desires, our intellectual ability and understanding, and our spiritual objectives. But we never find it. The lions and wildcats come and devour the product our toil. The wind comes and blows out our hopes.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this all for the best…<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything that G-d does, He does for good<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blessings and Peace<\/span><\/p>\n

Rebbetzin Revi<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Journey of the Soul \u05d4\u05b7\u05e0\u05bc\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea M\u2019nuchat HaNefesh\u2014Equanimity Calmness of Soul Part 6   \u00a0\u05d0\u05b2\u05d3\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c2\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05ea\u05b7\u05d9 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05d7 \u05d5\u05bc\u05e4\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b0\u05d4\u05b4\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05ea\u05b6\u05da\u05b8 A-dnai sifatai tiftach, ufi yagid tehilatecha\u2014 G\u2011d, Open my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1255","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-mussar-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1255\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jewishpath.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}