Alan Morinis, author of Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, will be coming to Congregation Beth Elohim on Wednesday, May 30^th at 7:30 p.m. to discuss his new book, Everyday Holiness.  Climbing Jacob’s Ladder described Morinis’s exploration of the Jewish spiritual practice of Mussar, and generated a new wave of Mussar learning and practice throughout the United States and Canada.  Jewish by birth, though from a secular family, Morinis took a deep journey into Hinduism and Buddhism as a young man.  As a Rhodes Scholar, he received a doctorate from Oxford University for his study of Hindu pilgrimage, learned yoga in India with B.K.S. Lyengar, and attended his first Buddhist meditation course in the Himalayas in 1974.  But in 1997, when his film career went off track, he reached for some spiritual oxygen, and felt inspired to explore his Jewish heritage.  In his reading he happened upon the spiritual practice of Mussar, which dates from the 10th century and became a socio-spiritual movement in 19th century Europe. Gradually he realized he had stumbled on an insightful discipline for Jewish spiritual engagement and self-development, through transformative practices designed to penetrate the deepest roots of the inner life.

Copies of Everyday Holiness will be available for purchase and signing at program.