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- Title
Benjamin Franklin's influence on Judaism.
- Authors
Afsai, Shai
- Abstract
The article examines how Rabbi Menahem Mendel Lefin utilized the U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin's writing on ethical guidelines for self-improvement in his own works dealing with the spiritual enlightenment of Jews. Lefin believed Franklin provided a practical method for personal refinement and psychological conditioning that was not present in the work of past rabbis. Lefin's work, entitled "The Book of Spiritual Accounting," would later be republished by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter and come to influence his Mussar movement. In this way, elements of the American Enlightenment came to influence Judaism.
- Subjects
UNITED States; FRANKLIN, Benjamin, 1706-1790; SELF-actualization (Psychology); LEFIN, Menahem Mendel; SALANTER, Yisroel; JEWISH ethics; JUDAISM; ENLIGHTENMENT; MUSAR movement
- Publication
Early America Review, 2011, Vol 10, Issue 6, p3
- ISSN
1090-4247
- Publication type
Article