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      <title>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality - </title>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:32:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <title>The Moral Foundations of Gilgulim (Reincarnation), by Shmuly Yanklowitz</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/the-moral-foundations-of-gilgulim-reincarnation/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[

Shmuly's Drashah - 17 March 2009.
&#160;]]></description>
         <pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:32:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Middot Reflection #6 - Actualizing one's potential, by Shmuly Yanklowitz</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middot-reflection-6-actualizing-ones-potential-by-shmuly-yanklowitz/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Our  work is never done! This is what makes Jewish activism so intimidating  and also so invigorating. We never complete the larger goals. We are  never whole. Until the day that we pass from the earth, we are unable  to fully step back and “throw the towel in.” The Maharal M’Prague  taught: &#160;

  “Man is not created in his final wholeness. Man was created to actualize  his wholeness. That is the meaning of the verse  ‘Man was born to toil.’ Man is born and exists for the aim of this  toil,...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <title>Middot Reflection #7 - Activisms of Love and Hate, by Shmuly Yanklowitz</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middot-reflection-7-activisms-of-love-and-hate-by-shmuly-yanklowitz/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160;Should we fight for justice with hearts full of love or hearts full of anger? Which is more rewarding? Which is more productive? Which must we cultivate as religious activists? &#160;
&#160;
&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160;Rav Soloveitchik argued (A Theory of Emotions, 183): &#160;&#160;
&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160;“Of course, love is a great and noble emotion, fostering the social spirit and elevating man, but not always is the loving person capable of meeting the challenge...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:59:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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      <item>
         <title>Middot reflection #8 - Sloth, By Shmuly Yanklowitz</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middot-reflection-8-sloth-by-shmuly-yanklowitz/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Classically, the vice of sloth (laziness) had two components:&#160;
&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; 1. acedia – a lack of caring or indifference
&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; 2. tristtitia – sadness, sorrow, or despair &#160; &#160;
&#160;&#160; &#160; &#160;I would argue that the negative aspect of individualism that exists today in 21st century is furthered by acedia. The sociologist Robert Bellah says it well:
&#160;&#160; &#160;“The individualism that’s on the rise recently in the...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:56:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Middah Reflection #5 - Pursuit of God in Justice</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middah-reflection-5-pursuit-of-god-in-justice/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[&#160;“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed,” (Bereshit 32:29). Yaakov Avinu is blessed with a new name only once he has struggled both with G-d and humanity together. The Jewish people are named Israel only after existential encounters with divinity and humanity!&#160;&#160;

&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;There is a religious crisis in our age! Many seek closeness to G-d but not to assist man in a rigorous...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:25:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Middah Reflection #4 - Messianic Yearning</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middah-reflection-4-messianic-yearning/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[&#160;Religious Jews are taught at a young age to yearn for the&#160;geulah&#160;(redemption). With sophistication, the student comes to learn that messianism is not just about seeking an end but is also a worldview, a process of living with a vision and with a dream. What is one to do if they lack this excitement for life, drive to make change, idealism to envision a better world? Rabbi Luzzatto (Mesillat Yesharim, Chapter 7) writes:
 
&#160;
&#160;“The best advice for the person in whom this...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:46:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Prayer for the People of Darfur - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the UK</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/prayer-for-the-people-of-darfur-rabbi-jonathan-sacks-chief-rabbi-of-the-uk/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[

PRAYER  FOR THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR
Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
O God of Peace,
Who commands us to seek peace,
Send peace to the people of Darfur.
O God of compassion,
Who hears the cry of the afflicted,
Hear the cry of the victims,
The bereaved, the injured,
And all those who live their days  in fear.
Rouse the hearts of the leaders of  the world
To put an end to the bloodshed, the  violence,
The rape, the starvation, and the  terror,
That has ravaged and endangered an  entire population.
Be...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Middah Reflection #3 - Savlanut vs. Zrizut, Patience vs. Alacrity</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middah-reflection-3-savlanut-vs-zrizut-patience-vs-alacrity/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[&#160;
Activism requires a very calculated and sensitive balance between patience and alacrity. On the one hand, one must have the patience for teaching and engaging the apathetic and the uninformed. On the other hand, one must also have the alacrity to respond to crises and injustices at the most crucial time. Most often the precise timing that necessitates immediate action precedes the completion of the essential education and mobilization of the public. This is one of the reasons why the...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:21:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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         <title>Middah Reflection #2 - Anivut, Humility</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/middah-reflection-2-anivut-humility/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Anivut (humility) has a very special priority in positive Jewish self development. Rav Kook wrote (The Moral Principles, page 174) that “Humility is associated with spiritual perfection. When humility effects depression it is defective, when it is genuine it inspires joy, courage, and inner dignity.” In short, humility should not diminish our special personality traits; rather it should help us to become unique moral courageous agents of...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:14:00 +0200</pubDate>
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         <category>Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality</category>
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      <item>
         <title>Social Action or Spiritual Practice: Which is the Priority? By Alan Morinis, Director of the Mussar Institute</title>
         <link>http://www.uriltzedek.webnode.com/news/social-action-or-spiritual-practice-which-is-the-priority-by-alan-morinis-director-of-the-mussar-institute/</link>
         <description><![CDATA[The title of this essay makes no  sense to me. To set up social action on one hand and spiritual practice  on the other, as if these could be considered separable alternatives,  seems to me like asking, “Which is more important for life: brains  or heart?” Try living without either of them. &#160;
And yet this is precisely an argument  that goes on, because some activists disparage the introspective, contemplative  approaches to living that come under the heading of spirituality, while  people...]]></description>
         <pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:53:00 +0200</pubDate>
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