The Musar Practices of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter

 https://shiurim.yutorah.net/2017/1053/879959.pdf

Heshbon ha-nefesh, an “accounting of the soul,” is another classic musar practice. In its general form, the practice consists of setting aside a portion of one’s day to critically consider one’s way of living. The idea of such an accounting has ancient Jewish roots. In Avot (2:1), the mishnah already cautions us to “reckon (hevei meh.ashev) the loss incurred through doing a mitzvah against its benefit, and the benefit of a transgression (averah) against its loss.” A similar admonition appears in Berakhot (5a): “Said Rava or perhaps Rav H. isda: If a person sees suffering coming upon him, he should examine his deeds.” R. Moshe Hayyim Luzzato (Ramh.al), writing in the early eighteenth century, places great emphasis on the needto make such an accounting daily.26 Shortly thereafter, R. Mendel Lefin, the religious maskil from Podolia,wrote a work titled Heshbon ha-Nefesh outlining a program for such an accounting. 27 R. Lefin’s curriculum consisted of a weekly rotation of thirteen character traits, with each practiced in total for four weeks per year. These were of necessity to vary according to the needs of the individual.28 Interestingly, R. Lefin apparently based his system on an identical program of character development advanced by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) in his autobiography.29