Ezekiel Bates Lodge

When he was in his twenties, Benjamin Franklin resolved to perfect his character, devising a self-improvement method to help him with the challenging work of becoming virtuous. He also intended to form an international fraternity whose members would commit to using this method, and planned to write a book expounding on his "Art of Virtue." Although he did not accomplish either of those goals, his system for self-improvement became part of Jewish practice through the publication in 1808 of Rabbi…