Ecclesiastes<\/em> 7:16-17, JPS translation). The virtue of moderation is here written into the moral vision of the wisest of men!<\/p>\nThe Talmud relates the story of Honi \u201cThe Circle Drawer.\u201d Honi offered prayers of intercession for a community suffering from a drought. As Honi began, rain fell in insufficient quantities. Upon Honi\u2019s continued prayer, rain fell in vast, destructive torrents. Finally, Honi\u2019s persistent petitions secured a welcome, moderate, salubrious level of precipitation. He observed that the People Israel \u201ccan endure neither an excess of good nor an excess of misfortune!\u201d (Taanit 23A).<\/p>\n
Maimonides (echoing Aristotle) advocated for principled moderation: the Golden Mean (with notable exceptions). \u201cThe way of moderation is the correct way. Once you find this path, follow it all the days of your life.\u201d (Hilchot De\u2019ot 2:2).<\/p>\n
Moderation enhances peaceful coexistence by facilitating communication between those with differing approaches, and by reducing the perceived need for entrenched, political posturing.<\/p>\n
According to English modernist author Virginia Woolf, \u201cAll extremes are dangerous. It is best to keep in the middle of the road, in the common ruts, however muddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notwithstanding murk or mud, Jewish morality has never treated moderation as a dirty word.<\/p>\n
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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