In addition to his lasting contributions to science and government, Benjamin Franklin also succeeded in influencing Jewish thought and practice – a feat he accomplished posthumously through his famous Autobiography, which found its way into Eastern European rabbinic circles in the early 19th century.
In the Autobiography, Franklin (1706- 1790) briefly discusses a method he devised to overcome his undesirable habits and become a more virtuous individual. Inspired by this account, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Lefin of Satanow (1749-1826) decided to compose Sefer Heshbon Hanefesh (The Book of Spiritual Accounting, 1808), a Hebrew self-improvement guide based on the Autobiography’s method, which is still studied in yeshivot today.
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