Open to the Spirit

Today’s word: “Virtue”

) The closest I can come in Judaism to the idea of virtue, is the concept of middot: loosely translated as “character traits”. These traits are discussed in Jewish ethics and in the practice of Musar, the self-reflexive path of Jewish learning and values. The middot are often divided into 13 core traits such as patience, humility, order, cleanliness and diligence, yet these then connect with many other traits and values each with its own collection of conversations and stories about how to use them in our lives. In Musar, we hold onto the idea that every person has a mixture of these different traits that make up their personality and their way of interacting with the world. Everyone is different, and some people have more of some traits and less of others, offering both blessings and challenges. Some people, for example, are naturally modest and humble, yet may get impatient easily. Others might be prone to anger, but are able to calmly put things in perspective. While we can label some things as more positive or negative, Musar instead sees all of the traits as our “curriculum” of life, offering us an opportunity to master these traits as we go through our lives.

Part of this mastery means recognizing that life involves constantly weighing these virtues and knowing when to raise them up or dial them down. For example, when helping someone in need it is important to raise up our humility and listening skills, yet when being interviewed for a job, a bit of pride is just as important as humility. Anger is not helpful when comforting a mourner, yet it can be just the spark that is needed when fighting for social justice. Every trait can have its place in our lives, we just need to know how to utilize it best.

So with this in mind, what does it mean for a person to have virtue? How can a person live a life of values and be a person of moral character? We should definitely have a system of moral codes that we follow, a set of virtues that control how we live our lives. We can always tell ourselves or others that the way to live with virtue is to do or act in different ways, and set out certain tasks that we need to follow. But the reality is that being good should not be so complicated, it should just be how we are. This is summed up well in the well used Yiddish phrase: Zai a Mentch, “Be A Mentch”. On the one hand, this means to live purposely with a system of ethics and values, and work each day to be the best person we can be, yet the more literal translation makes it even more clear. “Be a person”. We know that we are the most virtuous person we can be when we simply honour the fullness of who we are, when we honour all of our qualities instead of searching for perfection, simply always trying to be better. This is what it means to be good, and in this way of thinking about things, the more virtuous we become the more human we can be.

This philosophy is summed up well in a statement by Rabbi Israel Salanter the founder of the Musar movement:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. But I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my country. When I found I couldn’t change my country, I began to focus on my town. However, I discovered that I couldn’t change the town, and so as I grew older, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, but I’ve come to recognize that if long ago I had started with myself, then I could have made an impact on my family. And, my family and I could have made an impact on our town. And that, in turn, could have changed the country and we could all indeed have changed the world.”

) Our word today, virtue, speaks of the quality of being morally good. This was something we were taught to aspire to as children. We were taught these values in Sunday School, or around the kitchen table. A list of 7 virtues: humility, charity, gratitude, chastity, temperance, patience, and diligence, has been used in the church since the 6th century. These were qualities we aspired to and celebrated. People who were virtuous were held in high regard, and we elected politicians on the basis of their example of virtue.

Nowadays,in some places virtues are ridiculed. People are called names, like a “goody two shoes” if they are virtuous. Patience is also a target. There is a line I despise in a recent commercial on television: “I want what I want when I want it”. It seems to celebrate greediness, not charity. We see politicians who lie constantly, yet this is never held against them for some reason. The value of “truth” was even made fun of by a comedian who started using the term”truthiness”. Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. In other words, if they say it is true, regardless of science or proof, then they are believed. Where is the virtue in that ?

Last Sunday In church I was telling the children a story. I was using the metaphor that we were called to be candles of light in a dark world. I would mention a value and ask if it was darkness or light. This went well until I mentioning sharing. 2 children said darkness and I was gobsmacked. The teachers in the congregation said that sharing was not encouraged. Sharing lunch food is not permitted, in case someone has allergies. I understand but I was still a bit stunned,.that they were taught that sharing was a bad thing.

Another example is the recent acts of violence in the nation to our south. People who simply knock on the wrong door, or drive up the wrong driveway in a rural community are shot at. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “We mock honor and wonder why we have traitors in our midst.” I amend that only slightly: We mock virtue and wonder why our world is filled with random acts of violence. For many the privilege of owning a gun and using it whenever they feel like, supersedes the value of human life.

It’s time to bring back virtue as an ideal to be celebrated. Let’s hear stories of sharing and caring, gratitude and humility, patience and diligence, once again.

Once again we have only 2 voices, but each one is filled with wisdom. What does virtue mean to you?

Virtue BY GEORGE HERBERT

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so

bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky; The dew shall weep thy fall tonight,

For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue angry and

brave

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye; Thy root is ever in its grave,

And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days

and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie; My music shows ye have your

closes,

And all must die.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Like season’d timber, never gives; But though the whole world turn

to coal,

Then chiefly lives.