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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 So much has been happening in the past few weeks at The Mussar Institute. In late January, a strategic planning committee met in the San Francisco Bay area to examine where we are as an organization. We began to look forward to new programming and better ways of disseminating Mussar practice. Thanks to Carol Robinson (the Co-President), Alan Morinis and Rabbi Nancy Wechsler-Azen for helping to vision for the future of the Mussar Institute. The Board of Directors will be considering the the strategic planning committee’s plan at its annual meeting in Chicago in June. Recently, I was reminded of the power of Alan’s vision and of Mussar practice. I was asked to teach a one-time class in Miami on the basics of Mussar practice. None of the teaching was my own, but came directly out of Alan’s most recent book Everyday Holiness. Although we only had 90 minutes, it was remarkable for me to witness, first with my eyes and then with my ears, the enthusiasm of the students. I could see a few eyes open wide as I continued the talk. It was as if a light bulb went off in the hearts and minds of some of the students. When we began to speak, a few of the students expressed how Mussar is just what they had been searching for in Judaism. They were struck by the deep teaching and simplicity of practice that Mussar offered. We then discussed next steps: buying “Everyday Holiness,” taking a class and setting up a local group in Miami. I came away very enthusiastic about the work that we are doing. I also realized that we don’t always have to reach large numbers of students at once, but that we can touch one heart at a time. As we move into late spring and early summer, I invite you to help us vision the future of The Mussar Institute with me. I have received numerous e-mails with wonderful ideas. Keep them coming! You may reach me at jeffron@ix.netcom.com. Jeff Agron By Alan Morinis Sometimes, it seems that personal spiritual life is in conflict with action we might take on behalf of the community. We can be so busy saving the world that we have no time for the inner life, or, conversely, we can be so intent on our own spiritual growth that we step right over the person lying in our path who needs us. The Alter of Novarodok, Rabbi Yosef Yozel Hurwitz, addressed this issue in the late 19th century. He sees no conflict: When one becomes a community servant and an attendant upon the seekers of wholeness, the proper character reactions are dictated by the demands of the situation. The community thus serves to assign the proper bounds to all of his character traits and enables him to act confidently, without misgiving, secure in the knowledge that his actions are being motivated not by self-interest but by the nature of the circumstances. I draw from the Alter to make this point because I am about to ask for your help, and I want you to see that in offering some of your time and effort, you will surely be helping others at the same time as advancing on your own spiritual path. By Shirah Bell, Director of Everyday Holiness Program Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the impact of Mussar on parenting. The world is full of books and theories about raising children. Navigating in this world can be pretty confusing, especially when a new theory emerges that contradicts the theory we’ve been operating under. My children are grown now, but when a new theory comes out, I think, “if only I could do it over again.” Mussar’s approach to child rearing begins not with the child but with the parent. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe z’l, a modern Mussar master who passed away recently, put it this way: "Without good middos it is impossible to educate. If a person doesn't work on himself—on his middos—he cannot be an educator." (See: Planting and Building: Raising a Jewish Child, Feldheim 1999) Of course we can extrapolate this to educating or influencing anyone, not just our children. Those of us who study Mussar are continually preparing ourselves to parent, educate, and guide as we work on our soul curriculum. By Debra Cohn I was introduced to Mussar through a reading group in 2004 as a preview of the Mussar Level I course. I can’t say I had much in the way of revelation or deepened self-understanding the first couple of years. My chanting and journaling practice was irregular, but I hung in. By year three, Mussar reached a critical mass and I was able to make some tough decisions: I stopped working, returned to Los Angeles to live with family and tie up loose ends that allowed me to focus on some health issues and finish my dissertation. The Mussar Institute depends on the generosity of supporters, and gratefully acknowledges the following donations this month:
Donations gratefully accepted here. A Season of Mussar groups have just started in New York, Sacramento, Ann Arbor, Miami, Vancouver, Toronto, Eugene, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas. To find out how to get a Mussar group started in your community, send an inquiry to info@mussarinstitute.org. For more information on A Season of Mussar click here. |
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