Mussar, a, traditional Jewish approach to spiritual and practical self-improvement, seeks to bridge the gap that often exists between rational understanding and actions - between knowing right, and doing right. Evolving over the past 1,000 years, the Mussar movement was revitalized in the 19th century by a Lithuanian rabbi, Israel Salanter, who developed a system that employs textual study, prayer, discussion, and focused journal writing as a means of incorporating Torah values into daily life. More recently, Alan Morinis’ two books on Mussar have reintroduced the practice to a new generation.

The course covers the character traits, or middot, addressed by standard Mussar texts. Drop-ins are welcome. Please email course facilitator Gary Shaffer at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for materials relating to upcoming classes and for intro materials if you have not previously attended the class.