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Dedicating an issue of Yashar is a meaningful way to honor the memory of a loved one, to celebrate a joyful occasion or milestone. For details on sponsorship, please contact info@mussarinstitute.org. In This IssueWelcome - By Jeff Agron Welcome to this month’s issue of Yashar. My name is Jeff Agron and, along with Carol Robinson, I am the Co-President of the Mussar Institute. Like Carol, I too am honored to be serving our organization. I believe strongly in the importance of the Mussar tradition in Judaism. My first exposure to Mussar teachings was through the Morei Derekh training program of Jewish Spiritual Direction, in which Alan was one of our teachers. I learned that in order to help others in their spiritual journey, it was necessary to develop my own inner life; Mussar was the perfect way to work on what Alan calls our “spiritual curriculum.” I am a former attorney who became a Jewish educator. I am the principal of the Schimmel-Binder Religious School at Congregation Bet Breira in Miami. In addition to the Morei Derekh program, I have earned a certificate in Jewish meditation from Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley and am working on a Master’s degree in Jewish Education at Siegal College in Cleveland. Last year I served as the chair of the Mussar Kallah in Miami Beach and had a chance to meet many of you. We had a chance to discuss ways to improve the Mussar Institute and move us forward in our efforts to foster the study of Mussar. The Mussar Institute is moving into a new era, one where we are asking for your input and participation. How can we improve what we are offering? What can we do to further foster the reach of Mussar teaching? Do you have skills, such as marketing, development and grant writing, that you would like to offer to help the Mussar Institute grow? Please let me know by emailing me at jeffron@ix.netcom.com from Jan 08 Yashar. I look forward to meeting you at the next Mussar Kallah. Jeff Agron By Alan Morinis It’s mid-winter in the Northern Hemisphere, a time when the world appears dark and depleted of energy. Trees have gone dormant, and the flowers have retreated to potentiality under the earth. The colorful summer birds (and, where I live, the eagles) are nowhere to be seen. People feel withdrawn as well, barely visible underneath coats, hats and wraps. Winter has a spiritual side as well because at this time of year it is possible that we will feel a lack of a very important middah (or soul-trait) in our lives, which is zerizut, or z’rizus. That’s the quality often translated into English as “zeal” or “enthusiasm”, something that may well be lacking in your life in this season when the darkness and cold bring on Seasonal Affective Disorder. Winter can be a time when the get-up-and-go seems to have got up and left your life. Making I Really Make A Difference? There are so many huge challenges facing our world today that you, like me, may sometimes get discouraged. “I’m just one person studying Mussar. What impact can I make on the big issues—climate change, war, poverty?” Or, “I really would like to take on a project to improve life in my local community, but there’s just not enough time with all my other obligations.” I’m sure you can think of your particular impediment. The Alter of Novarodok, founder of one of the three schools of Mussar, challenges the truth of these reasonable impediments and calls them “rationalizations for avoiding Divine service.” In an empowering little book he wrote, To Turn the Many to Righteousness, he poses 10 commonly held rationalizations and brings forth the deeper truth about them. I am finding this book, written in the early 1900’s, so relevant for today. In Memory of Jay Levine When all is said and done and we look to sum up a life, what comes into focus are the traits of a person’s inner life. Jay Levine was a student of Mussar who died last June at the age of 65. He lived in Alameda, Calif., and studied Mussar for many years, meeting with a small group regularly to cultivate his inner qualities (middot) including such traits as compassion, patience and responsibility. Jay was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and served as a member of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), participating in the “Freedom Summer” of 1964 in the South, fighting for civil rights for American blacks. He remained a champion of human rights his entire life. His activisim in the civil rights movement demonstrated his commitment to the trait of responsibility. He was never willing to sit back, especially when he thought he had a role in righting a wrong. Alan's Book Tour Schedule for JanuaryCome here Alan Morinis speak in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in January. Check out the details of his schedule online.
AnnouncementsNew for 2008. As a way to build our Mussar community, we’d like to invite you to send us Mussar-related announcements for inclusion in the next month’s issue of Yashar. Let us know if you are starting a Mussar group, or have a teacher coming to town, if you have a craft product for sale that carries a Mussar message or otherwise might interest people interested in Mussar. Send your announcements to info@mussarinstitute.org. |
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