Mussar is a mindfulness practice and rigorous spiritual discipline that asks us to seriously engage the question – “If everyone knows what it means to be good, why is it so hard to be good?” We do this through tracking our own lives as lived in all our relationships and encounters, and through working with middot – precepts like equanimity, patience, humility, silence, etc. – in our class/cohort, on our own, and with study partners (chavruta). The TES Mussar community started with a small group of learners under Rabbi Boettiger’s leadership and grew to over 70 students, serving as a model for other synagogue communities across the nation. Our Mussar students are mostly members of the congregation, but we have more and more students from unaffiliated or non-Jewish backgrounds who have been drawn to the work, as well.
The application of Mussar extends beyond our student community. Here at Temple Emek Shalom, our fundamental language and practice as a congregation has centered around Mussar, the ancient discipline that we loosely define as “Jewish Ethics.”
Mussar believes the primary measure of our spiritual/religious life is whether or not it is helping us to be more kind and more awake to everyone and anyone who crosses our path. And yet, even if this seems obvious, most of us spend little time actually studying and practicing how we might learn to truly embody this, to live a life of curiosity, and a life of service to others.
We’ve found Mussar to be a practice that can bring the reality of Torah to everyday life, and it has truly become a central lens for so many in our community and beyond. We would probably all agree that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the central cornerstone for a human life lived with integrity, but if we don’t have a path through which we can learn to actually walk this walk, it will often not bear the fruit we would like it to. Mussar teaches a spirituality that is compassionate and generous. Join us.
March 20-22 we will be offering a new opportunity to experience and study Mussar with a Mussar focused weekend of prayer and special guest Scholars in Residence and a new ongoing va’ad ( study group.) Please click here for more information and the registration link.