Mussar is spiritual wisdom and a discipline of transformative practices. It is a Jewish spiritual practice engaged in developing an internal and external mindful moral compass and ethical life. We center the deepest values of the Jewish tradition, the middot, as the grounding framework for our spiritual practice and growth individually, interpersonally and with our world. Rabbi Susan’s Mussar is emergent, feminist, queer, and embodied.
Each time we meet, we will focus on one middah (yirah, chesed, rachamim, seder, zerizut etc). We will explore wisdom texts on each middah, our own awareness and experiences and engage in practices to cultivate the middah in our lives. It is both learning and doing, doing and learning. We look forward to learning and practicing with you.
More information about our Winter and Spring offerings in 5783 are coming soon!
Some of these middot include:
Emet
Truth. Truth through our own eyes and also through the eyes of another. Seeing and speaking accurately
Achrayut — Responsibility
Including the other in the self, an interconnectedness of self and other
Anavah — Humility
Occupy a rightful space, neither too much nor too little.
Savlanut — Patience
Opening the space between the match and the fuse, bearing without suffering
Videos
Videos
“I attend the monthly Middot group to hear Rabbi Susan’s teachings, which resonate for me, and to be accountable in my community for developing a practice that will keep me on a growth path (and in a growth mindset) and help me take concrete actions that are expressions of my most deeply held spiritual values”
— Melanie Weiner