John Wooden, the basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins in the 60's, used to say that he never tried to rile his players up before a game. He always wanted them to be even keel. He believed that if you were riled up that eventually you would have an equal and opposite crash. For every high emotionally there is an equal and opposite low emotional reaction. Therefore he taught his players to aspire to have an even head emotionally.
Maimonides teaches similarly:
Good acts are those midway between two extremes that are bad, namely, too much and too little.
Generosity is midway between being cheap and overindulgence.
Courage is midway between recklessness and cowardice.
Confidence is midway between arrogance and embarrassment
Dignity is midway between being bossy and being submissive
Humility is midway between pride and shame....
It is indeed the middle way that is best.
In the coming weeks we will be offering two classes to help one discover this middle path. The first is our Taste of Mussar course. It is a four-week course on Mussar which is Jewish character development. The second is going to be a monthly Torah and Mysticism class offered on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 7pm-9pm. I hope you will come and join me for one or both of these classes. For more information see the flyers below.
