Mussar Practice for Torture Awareness Month

MUSSAR PRACTICE FOR TORTURE AWARENESS MONTH

Mussar is a practice of self-examination and refinement of the spirit to the end of serving God completely. In more secular terms, we might say that mussar is a way of cultivating the aspects of our own character which are necessary to do the tasks before us with wisdom and vitality. The particular practices below are borrowed in form, though not in content, from Mesilat Yesharim, The Path of the Just, by R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the RaMChaL), the great eighteenth-century Italian teacher of mussar.

As Jews doing the work of abolishing torture, we may at times come up against our own personal impediments. We may become numb or helpless or angry in an undirected way. We may take refuge in platitudes and abstractions. We may feel hints of our own racism against the victims of torture. We may engage in wishful thinking, supposing that the practice of torture will go away with a new administration. We may lose interest as other social issues compete for our attention. This month of mussar practice is intended to address these inner issues. The kavvanah behind these practices is to help us look within ourselves, to strengthen our personal capacities to address the abolition of torture intelligently and courageously and to remove any aspects of our own character which might impede us in this work. Obviously this work, like any work of self-improvement, is a lifelong endeavor.

We offer one mussar trait for each week and a couple of questions or exercises to help us focus on how that trait relates to our shared work of abolishing torture. During that week you might wish to take up these questions by writing in a journal or having a conversation with a trusted companion. Some of these exercises may call to you more than others. Choose those which feel useful to you. You might wish to address the same questions more than once, perhaps once at the beginning of the week and once at the end, to see how your insights have grown through your practice. If you are a daily davvener, these reflections might make up a part of your personal tachanun on the days when tachanun is said.

WEEK ONE -- JUNE 1-7 -- THE TRAIT OF ZEHIRUT -- WATCHFULNESS

"The idea of watchfulness is for a person to exercise caution in her actions and undertakings; that is, to deliberate and watch over his actions and her accustomed ways to deliberate whether or not they are good…" Mesilat Yesharim Chapter 2

We begin by reviewing our lives as activists. If you have already been involved in any way in addressing the abolition of torture, begin there. Otherwise think more broadly about your experiences in working for social justice. What have been your characteristic ways of involving yourself in changing the world? What personal strengths do you bring to this work? Do you tend to choose your involvements based on your own strengths? Do you have gifts in this regard that could be strengthened?

Make a list of the personal traits you possess which you believe can make a contribution to the work of abolishing torture. How can these gifts be enhanced? What specific kinds of work might you choose (or have already chosen) which make use of these strengths.

Pick one personal strength that you value and want to enhance. Throughout this week, contemplate how you might develop this capacity of yours or offer it more substantially to the work of abolishing torture.

Now take some time to think about ways in which you feel that you have failed in your efforts at achieving social justice (or specifically at abolishing torture.) This might mean times when you felt the call of conscience but failed to involve yourself. Or it may mean efforts you did undertake which you found unsatisfactory or unsuccessful. It may mean times when your efforts dissolved into interpersonal conflict, where your own depression or confusion overtook your effort, when your ego caused you to take paths that you wish you hadn't, and so on. What are your personal weaknesses as an activist or would-be activist?

Make a list of those personal traits which have caused you problems as an agent of social change (note -- if you tend to be overly self-critical or easily discouraged, DON'T DO THIS. Spend your time this week reflecting on your strengths.) As you look at this list, go back to your list of your strengths. Are these two lists connected in any way?

Pick one problematic trait that you feel could be addressed in some way. Throughout this week, contemplate how you might address this aspect of your character to repair any damage it has done in the past and to correct or realign this aspect of yourself for your work in the future.

KAVVANAH FOR THE WEEK OF ZEHIRUT:
Va'anachnu lo nidah ma na'aseh, ki aleicha eineinu. Z'chor rachamecha HASHEM, vachasadecha, ki me'olam hemah -- We know not what to do, but our eyes are upon You. Remember Your mercy and Your kindness, HASHEM, for they are eternal. (From tachanun.)

WEEK TWO -- JUNE 8 - 14 -- THE TRAIT OF ZERIZUT -- ZEAL

"After watchfulness comes zeal, watchfulness pertaining to the negative commandments and zeal to the positive, in accordance with the idea of "Depart from evil and do good. (Psalm 34:15.) Zeal, as the name implies, signifies alacrity in the pursuit and fulfillment of mitzvoth." (Mesilat Yesharim Chapter 6)

This week we focus our attention on our personal sources of energy, inspiration and passion for the task of abolishing torture specifically and pursuing righteousness more generally. We will think about the Jewish and other social mandates which speak most strongly to us about changing the world. We will reflect on people and stories that inspire us in this work. And we will reflect on what more generally nourishes our spirit of tikkun olam and how we can draw still greater strength from these personal sources.

For many of us there are words of justice and social change which resonate in our hearts. They may be from the Bible or other Jewish sources; a few words or a story, a passage or a speech. Find where they are written, if they are, and speak or these words or write them out in a spirit of kavod (honor.) If you are artistically inclined, perhaps you would choose a statement to illuminate. If you are a singer, try putting a tune or a trope to these words.

A traditional mussar practice is to repeat an important phrase for a period of time, often by candlelight. Try lighting a candle and repeating your phrase for seven minutes, asking your own spirit to absorb it more deeply or understand it more clearly.

Many of us also hold certain people as exemplars of the pursuit of justice. These may be people we know or have heard about, people from the past or the present, real or fictional. We may know a lot about them or only a single anecdote. They may explicitly be activists, or they may be people whose lives or characters, however they manifested them, light up our own passion for healing and justice. Take some time to list a few of your personal sources of human inspiration. Think about their stories. What inspires you about these people?

Imagine that you can have a conversation with one (or more) of these inspiring souls about your own efforts to abolish torture. What would this person say to you? If this person were to give you a gift for the work, what might it be? We are taught to repeat torah that we learn b'shem omro, in the name of the one who spoke it. Find an occasion during the week to share something about the example of this person with someone else, and be sure to mention his or her name when you do so.

Finally, think about things that you do in your life which give your spirit strength generally, and which nourish your passion for social justice in particular.* These might be things you do in the realm of social change, or they may be completely personal and unrelated to your work for justice and for the abolition of torture. Maybe it's spending time in your garden or davvening or playing the piano.

Make a list of these things you do which nourish your soul and your passion. Look over your list. Are you making time for these practices? Are they in fact nourishing your soul? Among the items on this list, which do your soul crave for the work of abolishing torture in particular? What personal pursuits light you up and strengthen you for this work? Do you need to make changes in your life to ensure that you are engaging in these nourishing practices? (*I'm grateful to Rabbi David Dunn Bauer for this line of questions and practices.)

KAVVANAH FOR THE WEEK OF ZERIZUT:
Ki imcha m'kor chayim, b'orcha nireh or -- For with You is the Source of life; in Your light we see light. Ps. 36:10

WEEK THREE -- JUNE 15-22 -- THE TRAIT OF N'KIUT -- CLEANLINESS

"The idea behind the trait of cleanliness is that a person be completely clean of bad traits and of sins, not only those which are recognized as such, but also those which are rationalized, which, when we look at them honestly, we find to be sanctioned only because of the heart's being still partially afflicted by lust and not entirely free of it, so as to incline us towards a relaxation of standards." Mesilat Yesharim Chapter 10)

This week we will look at rationalizations, stories we tell ourselves to keep ourselves from acting, and other subtle character traits which keep us from acting whole-heartedly and effectively to end torture. This may seem like the same material we considered in the week of zehirut, watchfulness, but during this week our attention will be to finer details. The trait of n'kiut concerns itself with avak -- dust -- tiny flaws, deceptions and distractions that keep us from being whole-hearted in our work of torture abolition.

To begin with, cast your thoughts ahead to a day when torture has been completely abolished -- torture sponsored by the United States and torture in any form anywhere. From this perspective, what will you be able to say, looking backwards, about your own efforts to bring this day about? You may feel completely satisfied with the degree and kind of contribution you have made to abolishing torture. But it is also possible that you feel like your own efforts are less or different than you feel they should fully be.

If you have some doubts or regrets about your torture abolition work, or about your contributions to bringing about other aspects of justice and peace in our world, take some time this week to articulate why it is that you are not participating as fully, or in the manner, that you think best. What are your reasons for holding back? Try to think in as much detail as possible about this, to note even small hesitations, confusions, ambiguities, anxieties, inner and outer conflicts and the like that keep you from contributing fully.

As you examine each of these reasons, ask yourself how they sound to you. Are your reservations legitimate? Is there any avak ("dust") of rationalization or evasion in any of them?

At the same time -- the rabbis taught us to see ourselves as holding two truths, one in each pocket: in one, "For us the world was created;" in the other, "We are but dust and ashes." It is easy to see ourselves as either more or less powerful than we actually are. Take some time to examine your sense of your personal power to effect social change. In particular, given the above attention to even tiny grains of rationalization for inaction: do you hold yourself responsible to take actions that are beyond your responsibility -- and perhaps beyond your capability? How do you determine how much of a collective effort is yours to do personally? Is there a time to say, "enough?" How do you factor your personal responsibility to struggle to end torture into your other life commitments?

KAVVANAH FOR THE WEEK OF N'KIUT: Ani HASHEM choker lev, bochen chlayot -- I, HASHEM, search the heart; I try the reins. (Jeremiah 17:10)

WEEK FOUR -- JUNE 23-30 -- THE WEEK OF HASIDUT -- LOVINGKINDNESS

"Since I have seen that God's desire inclines towards this, I will use it as a sign to do as much as I can in relation to it and to extend it into as many areas as I can envisage the Blessed One's desiring its being extended into. (Mesilat Yesharim chapter 18)

This week we will attempt to discern our own personal path to fulfilling Divine desire by extending ourselves towards the abolition of torture. Knowing that God calls us to k'vod ha-briot, honoring the Divine Image in all living beings, what is our particular pathway to express and fulfill that calling as we seek to end torture? Over the past three weeks, we have been examining our character, our strengths and flaws; finding that which enhances our native gifts; looking for even tiny ways that we evade the fullness of who we can be and what we can do in the service of social justice and of abolishing torture in particular. Now it is time to discern what we personally have to offer to those experiencing torture and to realizing the worldwide consensus that torture must be abolished.

The first question is intellectual: Do you have a general strategic sense of what needs to be done in order to end torture? How do you understand the roles of: Legislative advocacy? Protest? Litigation? Grass-roots organizing? Nonviolent direct action? Media coverage? Human rights monitoring? Cultural change? The arts? Academic study? Prayer and religious practice? Any other avenues of social change?

The next question has to do with your own affinities and attractions. Are there ways of making change that especially resonate for you personally? If social change is a fractal, involving an uncountable number of individual actions that interact in unpredictable ways, how might you discern which gestures belong to you?

Now engage your imagination: Assume for a moment that you are committed to making a significant personal offering to the abolition of torture. If time, money, safety and other commitments were not obstacles, what might you imagine yourself doing? What kind of action might utilize your gifts, bring you joy, fit your sense of how the world changes? What kind of support would you need to make this offering? Who would you want to be surrounded by? What would you need to know to step forward in this way? Assuming that time, money, safety and the like may in fact be issues, how can they be addressed so that they don't paralyze you?

Ask yourself the above questions more than once: start to imagine a list of torture-abolition actions that inspire and excite you. What would you need to realize each of these inspirations? With whom would you want to take these steps?

Now think for a moment about the movement and resources which exist presently to bring an end to torture. Who are the people, programs, projects you know best who are your allies in this work? What kinds of resources do you wish existed to further this goal? What is lacking in the "worldwide web" committed to ending torture? Is there a missing strand that might be yours to weave?

Take some quiet time to look into your own soul. You have been drawn by your conscience to participate in Torture Awareness Month as a Jew, in connection with other people of faith who share a commitment to end the practice of torture. Feel the compassion in your own heart for people undergoing torture. If possible, extend your compassion to those people who are compelled to commit acts of harm and humiliation to other human beings. Feel your own pain, anger, sorrow, shame, confusion, hope -- whatever emerges as you sit with the reality of torture.

Know that other cruel and harmful social policies have been abolished in the past. Know that there exists a growing movement of people like yourself who are committed to abolishing torture. Know that there is a piece of this work which is your own. It may be small or large, a one-time gesture or an ongoing and growing engagement. Ask yourself: what is my own next step? Who are my partners and allies? How might we begin?

KAVVANAH FOR THE WEEK OF HASIDUT: "Keyvan sh'kvar matzati raiti sh'cheftzo yitbarach sh'mo noteh lazeh, yihyeh li l'aynayim l'harbot bazeh. Since I have seen that God's desire inclines towards this, I will use it as a sign to do as much as I can in relation to it." RaMChaL, Mesilat Yesharim chapter 18