Mussar

On the trip I read the book ‘Climbing Jacobs Ladder’ by Alan Morinis. Mussar is the Jewish spiritual tradition. It’s similar to man eastern religions in practice, but not philosophy. Basically it’s a way to perfect the soul.

The tradition is that the soul has many traits (kindness, anger, compassion…). Each person has unique levels of each of these different traits. We are able to modify these levels. Mussar teaches how to recognize these traits, decide which ones need work, and tells you how to work on them.

The interesting aspect about the book, is that the authour was non religious. He wanted to learn (and use) Mussar, without becoming more traditionally observant. He discovered that the two are separatable, and he was able to learn and use Mussar (including spending time in a Yeshiva) without becoming Orthodox.

I’ll write more about this as I learn more, but I encourage any Jews who have been attracted by Eastern Religions to give it a read.