A treasury of words and deeds of the Mussar greats.

“A compelling portrait of the relationship between a student and a teacher,” this spiritual memoir “raises important questions about the meaning of Judaism and the search for spirituality in this world” (Los Angeles Times) Jewish by birth, though from a secular family, Alan Morinis explored Hinduism and Buddhism as a young man. But in 1997, in the face of personal crisis, he turned to his Jewish heritage for guidance. In his reading he happened upon a Jewish spiritual tradition called Mussar. Gradually he realized that he had stumbled upon an insightful discipline for self-development, complete with meditative, contemplative, and other well-developed transformative practices designed to penetrate the deepest roots of the inner life. Eventually reaching the limits of what he could learn on his own, he decided to seek out a Mussar teacher. This was not an easy task, since almost the entire world of the Mussar tradition had been wiped out in the Holocaust. In time, he found an accomplished master who stood in an unbroken line of transmission of the Mussar tradition, and who lived in the center of a community of Orthodox Jews on Long Island. This book tells the story of Morinis’s journey to meet his teacher and what he learned from him, revealing the central teachings and practices that are the spiritual treasury and legacy of Mussar.

An exploration of how Jewish values influence pedagogy. By using Jewish sources as a foundation, Joel looks at how one creates a classroom based on respect and dignity, that facilitates growth, esteem, and community, and that makes the process of Jewish education an expression of the Jewish message.

Mussar is an illuminating, approachable, and highly practical set of teachings for cultivating personal growth and spiritual realization in the midst of day-to-day life. Here is an accessible and inspiring introduction to this Jewish spiritual path, which until lately has been best known in the world of Orthodox Judaism. The core teaching of Mussar is that our deepest essence is inherently pure and holy, but this inner radiance is obscured by extremes of emotion, desire, and bad habits. Our work in life is to uncover the brilliant light of the soul. The Mussar masters developed transformative teachings and practices—some of which are contemplative, some of which focus on how we relate to others in daily life—to help us to heal and refine ourselves.

The Twilight Zone is remembered as a science fiction television series that reflected the uneasiness of Cold War America. Its creator, Rod Serling, was a secular Jew who fought in World War II and returned stateside to see moral problems at home, like racism and the potential for technology to rob us of our humanity. The Twilight Zone was Serling’s attempt to influence mainstream culture in an ethically positive direction. His moral compass, which shaped his writing on the series, is entangled with his brand of cultural Judaism. By examining a range of episodes, the authors of this volume bring this Jewish moral influence out from the twilight and into the full light of day.

A treasury of words and deeds of the Mussar greats.

This mussar-based commentary is a vital resource for Torah study, offering a thoughtful analysis of each of the 54 weekly parashot. Each essay in this anthology brings a parashahinto juxtaposition with one of the mussar middot (character traits as described within the Jewish school of ethics called mussar), thereby providing an applied lens of mussar teachings that helps us to delve deeper into our tradition with increased mindfulness and intention.