TIKKUN MIDDOT PROJECT
Made possible through the support of a grant
from the John Templeton Foundation.
Can faith communities create
sustainable structures positively
impacting their members’ lifelong
character development?
A three-year study of 28 Jewish communities
developing their members’ moral character through
mindfulness and tikkun middot practice .
Each community must be led by clergy or other leader
trained by the Institute in mindfulness practice, who
will engage in a personal practice of character
development while implementing a parallel process
within the community.
Cultivating mindfulness practice and attention to
middot (spiritual/moral qualities) will help
community members:
 become more aware of and acknowledge
negative behavioral patterns
 transform challenging situations into
opportunities to strengthen their character
 respond in such situations with greater clarity,
wisdom, and compassion
Participants will report an increase in
 recognizing situations in which they typically
react negatively;
 responding to such situations by choosing to
practice the middot; and
 perceiving their religious community supporting
and modeling positive moral character.
IJS-trained leader participates as individual in facilitated small
group (4-5 participants) process over 10months, utilizing Tikkun
Middot curriculum.
Components:
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Monthly 90-minute facilitated va’ad/group session via
videoconference
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Interim weekly sichat chaverim, text study in
chevruta, mentoring sessions by phone
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Kabbalot: specific actions
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Cheshbon hanefesh journaling
Several months after beginning his/her own Tikkun
Middot Leader Group, he/she will teach the Tikkun
Middot curriculum to a small group (recommendation:
no more than 12) key professional and/or lay leaders
who are well-positioned to train/teach others in
community and infuse tikkun middot practice
throughout as many aspects of communal life as
possible.
Each community develops a Tikkun Middot Task Force (which should
include, but is not limited, to participants in the Tikkun Middot
Study Group) which will design, refine, and implement a plan to
strategically integrate tikkun middot practice within community in a
systemic, sustainable manner. Possible components of a plan might
include:
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Highlighting mindfulness and middot in communal prayer
Weaving tikkun middot into d’rashot and learning
Opening Board and/or committee meetings with mindfulness practice
and middot study
Posters for lobby etc. with middah, verse, and meditative phrase
Song or niggun of the month relating to middah
Monthly email to community describing middah and scenarios in which
it might be practiced
Ten-unit “middah of month” curricula featuring text
study, heshbon hanefesh (personal reflection),
hevruta study, small group process, and exercises
 Adult curriculum developed by Rabbi David Jaffe
of Boston
 Family (parent/child) curriculum developed by
Miki Young (Philadelphia)
 hitlamdut, making what we learn deeply impact our lives
 behira, discerning the critical decision point for our actions
 anavah, humility
 savlanut, patience
 hesed, lovingkindness
 kavod, respect
 shtika, thoughtful speech
 bitachon, trust
 emunah, trustworthiness
 seder, orderliness and integration
 Applications due by Friday, June 14
 Selections announced by end of June
 Communities begin promoting Tikkun Middot Project,
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especially during fall holidays in September 2013
Orientation retreat/conference in New Jersey (location
TBA), Sunday-Tuesday, October 27-29
TIKKUN MIDDOT LEADERS GROUPS Nov.2013-June 2014
TIKKUN MIDDOT STUDY GROUPS Jan. 2014-Dec. 2014
TIKKUN MIDDOT COMMUNITY PROJECTS Sept. 2014-June
2015
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Applications due end of October, 2013
Selections announced mid-November 2013
Orientation retreat/conference February 2014
TIKKUN MIDDOT LEADERS GROUPS
March 2014-Dec. 2014
 TIKKUN MIDDOT STUDY GROUPS
May 2014-April 2015
 TIKKUN MIDDOT COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Sept. 2014 –June 2015
 Collaborative leadership team for planning and implementation
 Advance “buy-in” from key community leaders
 Past experience with mindfulness and/or tikkun middot practice
in community
 Systemic: integrates tikkun middot practice into as many areas
of communal life and as many demographic categories as
possible
 Sustainable: creates structural changes in communal life which
will continue to engage community in tikkun middot practice
beyond the year
 Size of community is a factor
 May NOT be used to defray existing operating expenses or
pay for refreshments
 May be used to support travel and accommodations at
October retreat/conference for additional team members
from participating communities
 May be used for outside scholars/teachers, training,
consultation, resources, additional curriculum
development, and materials for implementing project
 Participating communities required to post resources
and materials on community’s wiki webpage
 A team from each participating community will share
its project’s “best practices” and challenges via
webinars
 Each participating community must have a team
representative on these monthly “best practices”
webinars