There are no days off for Olympic hopefuls. If you want to be a champion, you have to practice every single day. The same is true if you want to be a "mentsch."
Our Sages tell us that "avodas ha'middos," perfecting our character traits, is one of the main objectives of Torah life. A person with refined middos is at peace with himself, and brings joy to all those around him - including, most importantly, his Creator.
But in our over-scheduled and overstressed lives, can we make the time to work on ourselves and our middos? Can we find teachers who will be there for us when we finally manage to set aside a few minutes a day to become better people?
We can. We only have to open this groundbreaking new book.
Compiled by Rabbi Dovid Weinberger, Rav of Shaarey Tefilah in Lawrence, NY, Step by Step: A Weekly Program for Self-improvement brings together fifty-two noted educators, rabbanim, and rebbetzins, who each examine one specific trait. Every week brings us a new middah, and each middah is divided into a daily reading.
Each middah is presented through explanations based on Chazal, with stories and insights into human nature and practical strategies to bring the middah into our own lives.
In just a few minutes a day, we can turn ourselves and our lives into new, meaningful directions.
Because when it comes to our middos, we all have the power to be champions.
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