Fight Like a Mensch Practice Cards
Soul Exercises for Democracy
These cards are invitations to bring Jewish spiritual practice into everyday life and into the work of building a more just, connected, and compassionate world.
Each card offers a Jewish teaching and a practice designed to help cultivate the inner resources we need for our lives, our relationships, and our work for a multiracial democracy.
Choose a card. Try out the practice. Notice what arises.
You can practice alone or with others, return to the same card for several days or weeks, or choose a new card each day.
How to Practice
There is no one right way to use the cards. You might:
Begin your day with a card.
Read the teaching and take a few minutes to practice before you begin your day, or make it part of your evening routine. Practicecan be easier to sustain when you attach it to something you already do, like brushing your teeth or making coffee. Start with 2–5 minutes daily.
Turn to a card when you need it.
Feeling unsettled about an upcoming coalition meeting? Try Anavah/Humility. Feeling disconnected from what you're fighting for? Try Ratzon/Yearning. Carrying grief about the actions of our government? Try Generative Heartbreak or Simcha/Joy.
Find a rhythm that works for you.
Return to one card for up to two weeks and notice what changes when you practice the same teaching again and again. Or choose a different card each day and see what speaks to you.
Practice with someone else.
Many of these practices can become richer when shared with a partner, friend, colleague, or community.
The goal isn't to get the practice “right.” It is to notice what happens in your body, mind, and heart, and to discover what becomes possible when you make space for spiritual practice in everyday life and in the work of building a multiracial democracy.
“There isn’t just the work of now, of this moment, which is incredibly important, we are also going to need to dream a new democracy into existence.”
—Heather K. Gerken, President, The Ford Foundation, New York Times 11/3/25
The Wisdom Traditions
The Soul Exercises for Democracy draw on Mussar and Chassidic Jewish spiritual wisdom and practice.
Mussar
Mussar is a 1,000-year-old Jewish wisdom and practice tradition that helps us bridge the gap between our ethical ideals and our actual behavior and actions in the world. It understands everyday life as a workshop for holiness, offering practical ways to cultivate our character and bring our values more fully into how we live.
Chassidut
Chassidut refers to the spiritual revival that swept Eastern European Jewry in the mid-18th century and continues to resonate today. Its practices include cultivating joy, finding holiness in everyday life, learning through stories and inspired teachers, singing and dancing, and developing a direct relationship with the Divine.
These practices are often cultivated in community.
The exercises in this deck adapt elements of these traditions for individual and partner practice.
The Practices
Cheshbon HaNefesh | Soul Accounting
One practice found in the cards is Cheshbon HaNefesh/an accounting of the soul. This is a practice of reflecting on our actions, noticing patterns, and considering how we might bring our behavior into closer alignment with our values.
Cheshbon HaNefesh invites us to approach ourselves with honesty and curiosity rather than judgment. What happened? How did I respond? What do I notice about my habits? What might I want to practice differently?
In the work of democracy, this kind of reflection can help us consider how we participate, where we may be out of balance, and what it might look like to act with greater intention.
Focus Phrases
We turn to this method to carry a practice with us throughout the day. Choose a line from the cards that speaks to you, and use it as a reminder to pause, reconnect with your intentions, and bring greater awareness to how you move through the world.
Download a phone background with one of these focus phrases to keep the teaching top of mind:
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Pachad / Fear: “The main thing is not to be overcome by fear because HaShem/The Holy One is present, change is constant, and I am never alone.”
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Anavah / Humility: “No more than my space, no less than my place.”
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Savlanut / Forbearance: “I keep my goodness flowing to you.”
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Balance of Care: Hineni — “Here I am.”
Why "Soul Exercises for Democracy"?
Democracy isn't only a political system. It is also be a way of being together, of every voice mattering. As we learn on our Ratzon/Yearning practice card from Langston Hughes, “O, let America be America again—The land that never has been yet—” We are working towards a better world and mutliracial democracy where every voice does matter. And to work towards that world to come, we need to make democracy, of everyone mattering, a daily practice.
We are living through a time when the current, imperfect state of democracy is under threat—where civil liberties are being stripped away, unjust wars are contributing to turmoil abroad and at home, vital medical and food benefits are being taken away, immigrant neighbors are being violently detained, trans community members are under attack, and antisemitism continues to be weaponized to divide us.
This time asks us to develop capacities for courage, connection, humility, discernment, resilience, care, and hope. Jewish spiritual traditions have been cultivating these capacities for centuries.
Fight Like a Mensch brings Jewish wisdom and spiritual practice into the work of resisting authoritarianism and building a multiracial democracy. The Soul Exercises for Democracy are one way to practice those capacities in the midst of that work.
The practices are not meant to replace organizing or political action. They are meant to help us develop the inner resources to sustain that work: to stay connected to why we’re in this fight, meet fear without being overcome by it, navigate conflict without losing our humanity, and keep returning to the yearning of the world we’re building.
Thank you to Our Funder
Thank you to The Covenant Foundation for making the development of this practice tool possible.
Thank you to the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah for making Fight Like a Mensch possible.
Keep Practicing with Kirva
Kirva integrates the Jewish spiritual practices of Mussar (applied Jewish ethics) and Chassidut (applied Jewish mysticism) with social justice efforts, fueling personal growth and effective systemic change.
Fight Like a Mensch is one way to practice this approach in community. Through Kirva, you can also find learning communities, programs, teachings, and other resources for bringing Jewish spiritual practice into the work of creating a more just and compassionate world.
Learn more about Fight Like a Mensch, get in touch, and follow along by signing up for our email list!
