The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar

“Avinu Malkenu (our Father, our King), inscribe us in the book of forgiveness.”

Every year at Rosh Hashanah, I chant these words. A voice in my heart whispers, “You could have been more compassionate . . . more patient . . . more enthusiastic . . .”

I’ll be starting 5770 with a guide: Alan Morinis’ book, Everyday Holiness; The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar.

How does a non-observing, cultural Jew who studied Hindu traditions of pilgrimage as a Rhodes scholar come to discover and promote the ancient Jewish tradition and practice of Mussar?

Morinis tells you in his first book, Climbing Jacob’s Ladder. He drifted from his early spiritual concerns to become a venture capitalist and film producer. He had the golden touch – until a film failed. He lost a fortune. Worse, he had to face the fact that the man he had become was far, far from the man he had planned to become.

Judaism became his lifeline out of depression and a sense of failure. As he studied more, he discovered Mussar, a 1,000-year-old spiritual discipline for becoming a mensch. In 1997, he found teachers – Rabbi Yechiel Yitzchok Perr and Rebbetzin Shoshana Perr. Seven years later, he founded the Mussar Institute.

Everyday Holiness offers those of us who don’t have access to a teacher a way of beginning to practice Mussar.

“Everyone of us is assigned to master something in our lives,” Morinis wrote. “You have already been given your assignment and you have already encountered it, though you may not be aware that what faces you is a curriculum, nor that this is the central task of your life. My purpose in this book is to help you wake up to your personal curriculum and to guide your steps toward mastering it.”

Everyday Holiness unfolds in three parts. Part I, “The Inner World of the Soul,” describes Mussar. Part II, “The Map,” discusses 18 “soul traits.” These are qualities such as humility, patience, gratitude, simplicity, loving-kindness and enthusiasm. Part III, “The Route,” covers how Mussar is practiced.

Mussar calls us to consider a trait – humility, for example – and what it has to teach us and how it shows up in our lives. Mussar defines humility as the attitude of taking “no more than my place; no less than my space.”

For the person who believes he or she knows best, the goal may be to tone one’s ego down, to not leap to the forefront in every interaction or project. But for the person who is self-effacing, the curriculum may be to speak up more, to broadcast more of his or her talents and contributions into the world.

Some of the traditional texts used in studying Mussar are so pithy that it may take days or weeks to digest a single sentence. Morinis has written a book that is engaging to read and entices us to begin our own study of menschkayt.

Alan Morinis. Everyday Holiness; The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar. ISBN 978-1-59030-368-9.
© Jeannette M. Hartman, 2009