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In This Issue

Welcome – Jeff Agron
Through A Mussar Lens – By Alan Morinis
Everyday Holiness: The Course – By Shirah Bell
Donations
Upcoming Events and Announcements

As I write this column, we are witnessing the birth of a new and improved Mussar Institute (TMI), which I glibly called TMI 2.0 a few weeks ago. Upon further consideration, I believe that this nomenclature may be more accurate than I thought, and it just may stick. Click any of the links in this Yashar to access TMI 2.0. In just over a month, the new Board of Directors of TMI will meet in Chicago to officially launch TMI 2.0.

However, the work has been going on behind the scenes for several months to lay the groundwork and set the structure for this newly energized organization. We have taken a bold step in placing much of the operation of TMI in the hands of the Board and many active members. We have created teams, which will be responsible for running various programs and reporting to the co-presidents and Board. We are moving beyond an organizational structure where one or two people are doing everything, which is not healthy or tenable in the long run, to an organization shaped by the wisdom and experience of those teaching and living Mussar. Our new structure also allows Alan Morinis to focus on his teaching, writing and program development.

I believe that our new structure and the energy of new volunteers will lead to a further flowering of Mussar teaching in our world. TMI has come a long way in a few short years, but I also believe that we are just beginning to tap the true potential for the growth and dissemination of our work. Mussar groups are popping up in cities all over North America. This is not by accident, but largely due to Alan’s endless touring and teaching. Last month, Alan visited me in Miami and gave a couple of talks, and that visit has prompted great interest in forming a new local group. With the energy of so many more carrying on this work in TMI 2.0, I expect that we will see great growth in the future.

Kein yehi ratzon.

Jeff Agron
Co-President

By Alan Morinis

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a small group of people try to revive a woman. My wife, Bev, and I were on a holiday to celebrate Bev’s recovery from hip-replacement surgery. We were squeezing the last minutes from the last day of our week away. We had even let the bus to the airport leave without us, figuring we could catch a taxi a bit later. I was reading the final pages of a book, feeling good that I would get even that done before heading home, when I heard a man seated near me say, “They’re pulling someone out of the water.” I looked up and saw four or five people dragging a woman up onto the beach.

Read entire article.

By Shirah Bell, Director of Everyday Holiness Program

Resignation and despair visited me recently, and in the middle of those feelings, I also saw the mysterious ways of Hashem. Negative states of mind can be obstacles on the spiritual path. From Netivot Shalom we read of the negative consequences of despair:

"The real goal of the inclination [yetzer hara] is not the [negative] behavior but the despondency that it leads to. In a state of despondency one succumbs easily to one's basest instincts without resistance. When one is in a state of mindful clarity, however, his awareness will save him even from the lowest depths."

Read entire article.

The Mussar Institute depends on the generosity of supporters, and gratefully acknowledges the following donations this month:

Anonymous
Laurie and Isaac Mitrani
Nina and Gary Yarus
Deana and Seth Linfield
Gerald and Joanne Tepler
Deborah and Adrian Muller
David and Mona Abramowitz
AH and EM Rauzin
Caroline Isaacs
Samuel Finnerman
David and Jill Smith
Avery Sanger

Donations gratefully accepted here.