2020: Mussar Center

How did you feel about 2020? I didn't tell anyone this for the longest time but...it was my best year. I literally wore out a pair of boots and a pair of sandals walking the dirt roads along Albuquerque's canals, reading thousands of pages of Mussar books.

You might be wondering what that word was I just used. It's pronounced moo-SAR and is the Hebrew word for discipline, but it's so much more than that. Mussar is a personal practice of reflection, inner work, and growth in specific character qualities. It's a thread that runs through the Bible, a genre of Jewish literature, a movement in the 1800s that saved Judaism, and a resurgence today.

Mussar was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I reached a point where I was going to explode if I didn't share it! So at the end of 2020 I founded the Mussar Center. My plan was to start with the actual word "mussar" and a couple related words in the Bible and teach something of a 'Biblical Mussar Course'. From there I wanted to build on that foundation by looking at Mussar literature from the Biblical, Rabbinic, Classical, Movement, and Modern eras and then use those texts to introduce basic Mussar philosophy and practice. I also wanted to tell the story of the Mussar movement which was inspired by Rabbi Israel Salanter back in the 1800s and then, having given my listeners a solid understanding of what Mussar is, go back even further to show how the New Testament was some of the earliest and best Mussar literature the Jewish world ever produced! And about that last part - yes, potentially controversial.

At the same time I founded the Mussar Center I also started doing weekly Mussar talks on video. In the very first one I gave a preview of what our Mussar conversations were going to be about, explained why we use the ❦ symbol for our movement, and finished with the three things I conclude each of our Mussar conversations with - practical assignments, a "mazal tov" celebrating something we experienced, and a special personal blessing. Since then I've been filming weekly lessons, our following has grown, I've made some beautiful new connections, and everything is going great!

Do you remember how early on in these stories I shared with you how, when I first began teaching, I wanted to offer everything for free? That's still my dream. And that's why I made the risky decision to not charge for my Mussar guidance. Instead  I just asked my students to do what they thought everyone should do, with a suggested donation of a dollar a lesson. I also decided to incorporate the Mussar Center as a 501(c)3, which was something I hadn't done with my other organizations, so we could receipt donors. Teaching for free in the hopes that my listeners would give back and enable me to keep teaching for free was a scary and vulnerable step - and it still is - but I believe this desire was divinely planted in my heart so I'm going with it!

You're probably interested in seeing the Mussar Center for yourself and maybe even watching that first lesson. If so sign up for texts/emails here: