August 12–September 23, 2026
Wednesdays | 1:00–2:15 pm ET
Online via Zoom | Recordings Available
Free Week 1 trial available for non-members
Enter Elul with Courage, Hope, and Intention.
Elul invites us to pause.
As the High Holy Days approach, we are called to reflect on where we are, where we hope to be, and what we need to help us move forward. Yet finding the time and space for that reflection can be difficult.
Pause, Prayer, Practice: Being in the Presence of Elul is a seven-week journey designed to help you prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur through Mussar learning, reflection, prayer, community, and personal practice.
Through weekly teachings, discussion, journaling, prayer, and guided practices, we will explore how to enter the High Holy Days with greater awareness, purpose, and hope.
Full program open to Chaverim members only. Free Week 1 trial available for non-members.
Participate in all seven live sessions, receive weekly study materials and practices, engage in optional chevruta learning, and access recordings throughout the program.
Not yet a Chaverim member? Learn More About Joining Chaverim Here
Join the opening session, How Ready am I Choosing to Be?, and experience the beginning of this year’s Elul journey at no cost.
You’ll receive access to the live session, introductory materials, and practices for the week.
This year’s journey explores three themes that can help us prepare for the High Holy Days with greater intention.
Pause – Create space to reflect, listen deeply, and reconnect with yourself.
Prayer – Explore how prayer can help us become more present to God, community, and inner truth.
Practice – Develop meaningful habits and spiritual practices that can sustain you beyond the High Holy Days.
What You’ll Experience
Each week includes:
All sessions will be recorded and available to registered participants.
Not yet a Chaverim member? Learn More About Joining Chaverim Here
Join the opening session and receive access to the Week 1 materials and practices at no cost.
Full Seven-Week Program – For Chaverim Members Only
Program Fee:
קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־יְ֫הֹוָ֥ה חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה׃
Look to God, Let your heart be strong and of good courage;
Look to God with hope.
Elul Psalm 27:14
Helaine Sheias, Ph.D., made Aliyah to Israel in her teens, served in the IDF, and settled in Israel for more than two decades. She is a graduate of The Mussar Institute Yesod Facilitator Training Program and the Manchim Advanced Facilitator Training. She is currently the Director of Facilitator and Program Development, after joining the TMI Staff a few years ago.
Helaine continues to facilitate a variety of courses. She co-created the Tapestry course with Nancy Weiss. In her Va’adim she facilitates circles of transformation and change by modeling spiritual awakening, and self-reflexive learning, or Hitlamdut. Facilitating Mussar courses offers Helaine a continuous sense of awe and wonderment as it continuously strengthens her personal spiritual practice.
Helaine currently resides near Haifa Israel and is blessed with 2 amazingly wondrous grandchildren and three adult children, who all bring her great nachas and joy.
Rabbi Avi Fertig serves as the Chief Programming Officer at The Mussar Institute, where he has been guiding courses and programs since 2010. Avi’s educational background includes studying at the Yeshiva of Ner Israel in Baltimore, followed by a move to Israel in 1997. During his time at the Mir Yeshivah in Jerusalem, he developed a close bond with Rabbi Reuvain Leuchter, a prominent disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, a renowned authority in Mussar. Since then, Avi has been studying, writing, and teaching Mussar to a wide audience, impacting thousands of students. He is also the author of two books on Torah and Mussar. Avi resides in Beit Shemesh with his wife, Estie, their children, and their recently born grandson, Ariel.
Rabbi Marcia Plumb has taught Mussar for over 30 years. She is the former Director of Jewish Life and Partnerships at the Rashi School in Dedham, MA. Prior to that, she was the Head Rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline, MA, serving there for a decade. Before moving to Boston, she served as a congregational and day school rabbi, and created and led the Spiritual Formation Program for Leo Baeck College, a Rabbinic Seminary, in London UK.
Ken has been a Mussar student since 2010 and a facilitator since 2012. He both learned and taught the Manchim facilitator training program for two years. Ken has experience with all Mussar Institute courses, from beginner to advanced, and finds joy in observing how Mussar transforms newcomers. He served as President of Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, Missouri, and contributed to the Boards of the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Day School, The Union for Reform Judaism, and held the role of Board member and Treasurer at the Mussar Institute.
Cyndee Levy
After graduating from Rutgers Law school, Mark moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he practiced worker’s compensation law for over 50 years. He received a Life Time Achievement Award for his work. He is now a partner emeritus at the law firm he started four decades ago. Mark sits on the Board of Trustees of synagogue Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades, CA, as Trustee for Jewish Life and Practice. He has been involved with Mussar since 2001. He has taken many courses over the years, has facilitated Mussar va’adim, and is presently taking advanced Mussar facilitation training with TMI.
Rabbi Scott M. Nagel serves as the Sophia and Nathan Gumenick Senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, Virginia. His passion for Judaism was fueled at an early age by Reform Judaism’s youth and camping programs. Scott previously served as the Assistant Director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Kutz Camp, National Leadership Center—where he worked with Jewish high school students from around the world—and attended graduate classes in Humanistic Education at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Rabbi Nagel was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2004. He was selected as one of 20 young rabbis in the U.S., across all denominations, to participate in the STAR PEER (Synagogue Transformation and Renewal – Professional Education for Excellence in Rabbis) program, which trains rabbis to excel as executives, change-managers, and growth agents.
Scott has found a renewal of self and a deepened passion for Judaism through the study, teaching, and facilitation of Mussar. He is married to Randi Chudakoff Nagel; they are devoted study partners in faith and in life. They have three sons, Daniel Akiva, Lev Hillel, and Ari Shimon, who, even as they leave the nest, remain the most influential teachers in their lives.
Through his children and his view of the world, Scott sees the need for a Judaism filled with joy, understanding, and flexibility. He believes Mussar provides the ideal path for this way of living. This understanding frames his approach to everything and motivates his commitment to sacred sharing and learning.
Alan Morinis is the founder of The Mussar Institute and a leading voice in the modern revival of Mussar, a centuries-old Jewish tradition focused on ethical and spiritual growth. A former filmmaker, Rhodes Scholar, and anthropologist, he turned to Mussar in 1997 after a personal turning point and went on to study with Rabbi Yechiel Perr.
Morinis has adapted classical Mussar teachings for contemporary life through widely read books including Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, Everyday Holiness, Every Day, Holy Day, and With Heart in Mind. Through his work, he has helped bring Mussar practice to a global audience, making its teachings on character, self-awareness, and personal transformation accessible and relevant today.
© 2026 The Mussar Institute. All rights reserved.
