Mussar

Demystified, Still Evocative

Rob Elliott

1. Background and Introduction

2. Sout-Trait Patterns

3.   The Practice of Mussar

4. An Afterward: Beyond Judaism

5. Mussar Haiku                                                           

6.   Bibliography                                                                  

APPENDIX: Everyday Holiness Chapter Summaries         

BACKGROUND and INTRODUCTION

Mussar … a word you may have heard somewhere, not sure when—evocative, exotic, remote.

What you are about to read will trumpet mussar’s immediacy in our already rich, spiritual lives—while still remaining evocative—and make the word, the concept, and the practice, a whole lot less exotic and a whole lot more accessible. Beware, however: mussar could become part of who you are in your own spiritual quest, for Jews and non-Jews alike. Everyday even. Take a look, absorb it, practice it—mussar will never be far from your ever-rising consciousness.

ROOTS and ORIGINS

From its origins in the 10th century, mussar was a practice of the solitary seeker until in the 19th century when it became the basis for a popular social/spiritual movement begun in Lithuania. Its founding is attributed to Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter (1810-1883), who was inspired greatly by the teachings of Reb Zundel Salant, although the roots of the movement can be traced back 800 years earlier (refer to Bibliography).

The 19^th century mussar movement in Lithuania began as a response to the social changes brought about by The Enlightenment and along with it, anti-Semitism and assimilation of many Jews into Christianity. Many religious Jews felt that their way of life was slipping away from them, observance of traditional Jewish law and custom was on the decline, and even loyal Jews were losing their emotional connection to Judaism. The Orthodox Jewish community in Lithuania spawned the mussar movement to help people overcome the inner obstacles that hinder them from living up to the mitzvot—the laws and commandments from the Torah.

WHAT IS MUSSAR and ON WHAT IS IT BASED?

The word mussar means “correction” or “instruction” and serves as the modern Hebrew word for “ethics.” So mussar is about ethics, but not about being ethical just for the sake of being ethical. Rather, mussar is about deepening ethical behavior for the sake of advancing ourselves spiritually, and that’s what distinguishes it from “self-help.”

The starting point for understanding mussar is the verse in the Torah that tells us: “You shall be holy” (Leviticus 19:2). In essence, explains Alan Morinis in Everyday Holiness, “We are here on Earth for no other purpose than to grow and blossom spiritually.” Morinis quotes Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein: “A person’s primary mission in this world is to purify and elevate his soul.” In Everyday Holiness, Morinis makes the case that “to do that, we must walk the way of the soul, and mussar has been developed to guide our footsteps.”

It is said that another purpose of mussar practice is to help us move in the direction of sh’lemut, or “wholeness.” The great mussar teacher Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto discusses this notion in his book Da’at Tevunot (Discerning Knowledge): “The one stone on which the entire building rests is the concept that God wants each person to complete himself body and soul …. In His great wisdom [God] ruled it better to leave to people the completion of their own creation.”

Practicing mussar is an effective way that we can go about our work of completion.

NOT JUST FOR YOU

Mussar is a path of spiritual self-development. It means working on yourself, but not for the sake of your self, but rather, to advance your spiritual purpose through “bearing the burden of the other.” Dedication to being of service and to hold the needs of the other in your heart, even as you work on yourself, is a central tenant of mussar and the second thing that distinguishes it from self-help.

GOAL and PURPOSE

The goal of mussar study and practice is to release the light of holiness that lives within the soul. The purpose of mussar is to help us identify our spiritual curricula and to provide us the tools that will help us consciously infuse our lives with the innate light of the soul. Mussar is not JUST an intellectual pursuit debated among scholars. It is a tool actively engaged on an everyday basis for modifying behavior, giving that behavior “heart,” and displaying the light of our souls—nothing less than living our lives in God’s image.

In Everyday Holiness, Morinis helps us pinpoint and then to break through the barriers that surround and obstruct the flow of inner light in our lives. That practice harkens back to why the Lithuanian Jews spawned the mussar movement in the first place: as a way to help people overcome the inner obstacles that hinder them from living up to the mitzvot given to us through the Torah.

SOUL-TRAIT PATTERNS

Throughout my study and practice of mussar, I have learned, acted, practiced, and even felt some underlying “patterns” within the tradition. My initial mussar practice began rather innocently. I counted the soul-traits detailed in each chapter of Alan Morinis’ book Everyday Holiness, each with its own chapter, and came up with 18. I then counted the weeks remaining in our class, Into the Heart of Judaism, and came up with 20. “Aha,” I thought. “Through study and journaling, I will practice one soul-trait per week until nearly the end of class.” That could be as important as writing the paper.

What I didn’t realize intellectually at first, I must have intuited, and it became the first pattern I discovered in mussar:

1.  With action—and practice, many times over—comes “sensory learning” and permanence in developing a soul-trait.

Morinis hammers home this lesson over and over—two lessons, actually: action and practice. It is not enough to learn something intellectually from listening to a lecture or reading a book.  The lesson must be owned on the level of experience, or what Morinis refers to as “sensory learning” (and he credits Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler with the first use of the term, at least in the context of mussar). Sensory learning requires action and then, lots of practice.

The soul-trait of “generosity” provides a good example. We begin by feeling generous, but if we stop there, we will not learn the lesson and advance spiritually. Next, we experience generosity by acting generously. Then comes the practice. Morinis suggests it is better to give one dollar a hundred times than to give one hundred dollars just once. The mussar masters advise small steps, repeated regularly, since what changes quickly in one direction can just as easily change back again.

The soul-trait of “gratitude” provides another example. It is important to call thankfulness to mind and then to express and act on the feeling of gratefulness we have fostered. We can write one long thank you note or thank several people for small acts of kindness repeatedly. Again, think in small steps. “Virtues of character come with repetition of right action many times over,” says Morinis.

The soul-trait of “honor” serves as a third example. Imagine being super friendly in just one social gathering (any given week) versus genuinely greeting everyone you meet with sincere pleasure for the entire week. Which strategy is going to be more effective at “locking in” the soul-trait so that it becomes second nature for you? You know the answer.

Learning beyond intellectual ideas is where growth and healing take place, according to Morinis, and this is where Mussar focuses. Morinis puts the same idea a second way: “Knowing something and living that truth are not one in the same thing. The gap between the two is where mussar plays its most important role.” By taking action, and then practicing the behavior in small steps repeated many times,  “sensory learning” takes place on a cellular level. This depth of learning can be so profound (like an epiphany, where the truth becomes you) that the learner senses (and may exclaim), “I am not the same person I was before!”, which, in fact, is the case.

As I deepened my study and practice of mussar, I discovered a second pattern:

2.  Soul-traits are all linked; they are neither practiced nor developed in isolation.

I began my weekly practice with Morinis’ first soul-trait, “humility.” Without thinking it through, I figured that I would proceed through my study and practice of the soul-traits in a linier fashion: first one, then the next, etc. and on through all 18 for 18 weeks. Very soon I learned, and discovered experientially, that the soul-traits are all linked; they are neither practiced nor developed in isolation. And as part of being linked, they layer and compound one upon the other into an organic whole. Eventually I was working on several soul-traits all at the same time!

Humility underlies every other soul trait, explains Morinis. That made sense to me, especially after delving into the next chapter on “patience.” How much easier it is to be patient, I found, when I reminded myself (and practiced) the truism, “It’s not all about me.” The person driving that car ahead of me is simply slower (or more cautious) than me. This other person is clearly having a bad day (now I exercise the soul-trait of “compassion”) and doesn’t mean to be directing his/her rudeness at me personally.

The observation that soul-traits are all linked is especially useful when encountering resistance in practicing a specific soul-trait. Morinis advises that it is helpful to analyze the resistance and then “practice” the most appropriate soul-trait for moving through the resistance. Take “generosity.” Perhaps the resistance is a nagging sense of scarcity. Then it might be helpful to practice “trust,” “faith, or “gratitude” (for what we already have).

Within the first few chapters and my continued practice, I learned a third pattern:

3.  Mussar is all about “bearing the burden of the other,” which is essential to spiritual advancement.

It will not surprise most Jews that a tradition (mussar) within Judaism is grounded on “bearing the burden of the other.” Bearing the burden of the other is a fundamental step on the path to advancing oneself spiritually. These two beliefs, or lessons, are what set mussar apart from self-help. Self-help is about advancing ones own personal development (not requiring focus on the other) and with no necessary connection to spiritual growth. Add focus on “the other” plus the goal of spiritual growth and we get mussar.

Acts of generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, and care undertaken for the benefit of another all have the direct effect of diminishing the focus on self (ego) that is a primary impediment to spiritual growth.

Judgment is the opposite of the soul-trait of “compassion” and because we more easily perceive separation than our oneness with others, we slip into judgment more easily than we rise to compassion. Compassion is an inner quality that grows within us out of the perception that we are not really separate from the other. True compassion is “the inner experience of touching another being so closely that we no longer perceive the other as separate from ourselves.”

Compassion has us believe that a person is inherently holy and has the capacity to change. When we show “compassion,” give someone the benefit of the doubt (the soul-trait of “generosity”), and suspend judgment, we assume the best in someone, which in turn “honors” them (three soul-traits in succession!). See the linkages? See how it’s about the other and not about us?

Ultimately, after realizing it’s not about ourselves but about the other, the next short step is realizing it’s all really about serving God, serving our highest inclinations, serving our God-sleves.

Continuing my study and practice, it did not take long to discover a fourth pattern:

4.  In feeling and expressing every soul-trait, the ultimate model is God.

While reading and studying the first several soul-traits, Morinis frequently refers to God as a model for a specific trait. Let’s start with the soul-trait of “generosity.” God gave us creation. How generous is that?! And God is “patient” almost beyond belief; he always gives us another chance to get it right, even for those who are seemingly not deserving of another chance. God is enthusiastic: just look around you at the overwhelming beauties and diversity of nature. And God, of course, is the epitome of loving-kindness and when we express loving-kindness, we are expressing God.

In my mussar practice and when I started encountering resistance to embracing a soul-trait (or felt seduced by its opposite), I started asking the simple question, “What would God want me to do?” Then I simplified the question even further: I dropped “want me” and asked, “What would God do?” That answer always came easily because God always takes the high road. God is patience; God is loving-kindness, generosity, and compassion—so it requires no effort for him to act those ways, all the time and all at the same time.

When I couple this observation with the belief that we are made in the image of God and then ask the question, “What would God do?” (especially when faced with a test) the right behavior, the right action, and the right attitude of heart becomes self-evident: letting go to God makes it so much easier. Whatever God would do is whatever God would want me to do. When we practice the soul-traits we do nothing less than elevate our souls in the service of God, as expressions of God, and it’s a joy to hop on board.

As I furthered my study of mussar, it didn’t take long to recognize a fifth pattern:

5. To be authentic, every soul-trait must be felt and established in the heart.

It seems self-evident that for an expression of a soul-trait to be authentic, it must come from the heart. Less evident, perhaps, is that for a soul-trait action to be consistent, it must also come from the heart, as it doesn’t have to first become processed intellectually. The soul-trait, eventually and with practice, becomes automatic. For mussar to be realized, the feelings must be acted on, while at the same time the focus is not just on the doing but on the quality of the heart behind the action. Take as an example, loving-kindness. “Awaken your heart to love the very act of caring for the other. Done for any other motive and the act is not chesed” (loving-kindness), says Morinis.

Take generosity as a second example. The mussar tradition’s guidance is this: by accustoming yourself to giving and developing the habit of giving, eventually your heart will catch up and you will become more generous and loving by nature.

So does heart come first, or second? It may not matter. If right action is taken with insufficient heart (whatever the motive—though self-gain or “credit” will certainly slow spiritual growth), eventually the heart will catch up.

A third example is “gratitude.” Although gratitude practice requires that we put our feelings into action, the essence of the soul-trait is the inner attitude we maintain, as the seeds we plant in practice will sprout, and then we will find ourselves experiencing spontaneous flashes of gratitude as we go about the ordinary activities of life.

The soul-trait of “Silence” serves as a fourth example. Cessation of talking doesn’t make for silence. Removing oneself to a quiet location doesn’t create silence either … until we diminish the clatter and chatter of our overly active minds. We cannot experience true silence until we embrace silence in our hearts, and quiet the mind.

Early on in my study of mussar I learned what my life experience already taught me: 

6.  Every soul-trait has an opposite value that invites us in and challenges us.

But I didn’t understand the concept fully until I learned about yetzer ha’ra and yetzer ha’tov from Morinis. Why does it seem so hard sometimes to be patient or generous, loving or kind? Why are we so quick to judge or find ourselves talking other people down behind their backs? Jewish sages call these negative impulses yetzer ha’ra, or the inclination to evil, and the purpose of yetzer ha’ra is to challenge us to grow. Fortunately, we also have an inner inclination to elevate ourselves—and that’s yetzer ha’tov, the impulse to do good. Think of these dual inclinations as little voices, like little birds sitting on our shoulders, and the concept becomes more clear from our own life experience.

That little voice of yetzer ha’ra is most commonly the ego interjecting its needs. The ego is committed to scarcity and sees life as a zero-sum game. The ego sees the riches of the world as a fixed pie and works to get the largest slice. The size of the pie is fixed and if someone else gets more, the ego gets less. The ego has no end of rationalizations: “I’m too tired.” “It can wait; I’ll certainly have another chance.” “I’ve given enough already.”

There is a saying in the Talmud, “The greater the person, the greater the yetzer ha’ra.” If we are wise, we should not even want to be freed of this inclination, suggests Morinis. As we advance spiritually, our yetzer ha’ra “ups the ante” and continues to offer deeper challenges. That’s so we can keep growing until we die.

Yetzer ha’tov is clearly good, by definition. When looking at yetzer ha’ra as opportunity, we can better understand the phrase recently in vogue: “It’s all good.”

Patterns among mussar soul-traits no doubt extend beyond what time and space  allows in this paper, but I want to close with one of the most important patterns to me:

7.  Practicing mussar advances free will.

In every decision and choice we make, there will be an option that represents the way of the higher self. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler identifies what he calls the bechirah-points in each of us. Bechirah means “choice” in Hebrew, and refers to our free will.  The bechirah-point is the inner battle line and all fighting takes place at this one location. That battle line is where choice is most pregnant; the choice is alive and real, where we can go either way.

Think of those choices that often confront you (e.g. being impatient with a child or judgmental with a colleague). Those points in our behavior represent uncertainty, a hesitation on our part. But these points also represent openings, where we have the greatest potential to ascend spiritually.

What a wonderful realization when, teetering at the bechirah-point, we can “freeze-frame” as I call it. We can pause. It’s almost like we can slow down time. We can witness our free will, take a split-second to thank God, and then chose right action, or not. And when we don’t chose right action, we can be assured the test will come again, just in a different form.

Every time we practice a mussar soul-trait we strengthen our heart, rise spiritually, and develop and deepen our free will.

THE PRACTICE OF MUSSAR

So how do we go about learning and practicing mussar? Where do you begin? How do you make it part of your daily—or at least, weekly—practice? Morinis’ book, Everyday Holiness, is chuck full of “how to” go about the practice—and the work—of mussar. I will just scratch the surface here.

Morinis explores in great detail several methods:

• Text study [I’ve done plenty; now it’s time for more practice]

• Meditation [frequent, and a good way—for me—to set kavannah, or intention]

• Silence and retreat [there’s a whole chapter on the soul-trait of “silence”]

• Diary practices [I did a lot of this and invited my classmates to play along one week]

• Chanting [hmmm … not really my thing]

• Contemplations

• Visualizations [especially when entering into a difficult situation, time allowing]

• Chevruta [study with a partner or in a group]

And I hasten to add “prayer:” that I may develop an exquisite sensitivity to when I arrive at the “battle line,” where I teeter at the edge of choosing the high road or the low road, so that I may better exercise free will.

One of my favorite (because it has been effective) mussar methods is to “witness” my own inclinations of the heart, to hear the yetzer ha’ra voice (usually my ego) for what it is, pause, and give the yetzer ha’tov voice at least equal time. (My yetzer ha’tov voice seems like a an old friend now—a shy friend, but one that when invited in, is happy to stick around.)

This process of witnessing would all seem to take time, right when things are happening fast all around us and our reactions are flying, some of them out-of-hand. But with practice, the sensitivity and witnessing all seem to take just a split-second, and time seems to go into suspension just long enough for me to chose more consciously. Not all the time, of course. But more frequently, all the time.

I have always been drawn to chevruta—study with a partner or in a group. I first learned about mussar when a Jewish friend in Flagstaff loaned me a magazine on REFORM JUDAISM with a lead article on mussar. I shared the magazine with Sharon, my significant other, we ordered Morinis’ book Everyday Holiness and began weekly practices. Even though we lost our focus after a few weeks and dropped our practice, when I started the research for this paper, we picked it up again. Several Sunday afternoons I would read aloud (commonly while driving home from our cabin in Taos) a soul-trait chapter. Naturally we would find something compelling or provocative in Morinis and then discuss it, exploring examples of when we chose the low road and when we chose the high road, and resolving to try to react less and act awake more of the time, especially when the inevitable growth tests come.

Mussar study, practice, and work, may pose one of several opportunities for our class—Into  the Heart of Judaism—to continue in some other spiritual growth format after our b’nai mitzvah.

AN AFTERWORD: BEYOND JUDAISM

The Orthodox Jewish community tends to see mussar as inseparable from its own beliefs and practices, but the human reality mussar addresses is universal and the gifts it offers can be used by all people. Here are two examples from non-Jewish thinkers from early American history: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ben Franklin.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (from his Divinity School Address):

 “A more secret, sweet, and overpowering beauty appears to man when his heart and mind open to the sentiment of virtue—then is the end of the creation answered, and God is well pleased.

“The sentiment of virtue is a reverence and delight in the presence of certain divine laws. These laws refuse to be adequately stated. They will not be written out on paper, or spoken by the tongue. They elude our persevering thought; yet we read them hourly in each other's faces, in each other's actions, in our own remorse. The moral traits [reflective of] every virtuous act and thought … is the essence of all religion.

“These laws execute themselves … He who does a good deed, is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed, is by the action itself contracted. He who puts off impurity, thereby puts on purity. If a man is at heart just, then the majesty of God enters into that man with justice. If a man deceives, he deceives himself, and goes out of acquaintance with his own being. A man in the view of absolute goodness, adores, with total humility.”

Ben Franklin (from his autobiography)

Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of thirteen virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. Franklin didn't try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week "leaving all others to their ordinary chance” [or integration in the sub-conscious, I would think more likely].

Note: I have bolded those traits that correlate directly with the soul-traits detailed in Alan Morinis’ book, Everyday Holiness.

Franklin’s autobiography lists his thirteen virtues as follows:

     TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

     SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

     ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

     RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

     FRUGALITY. [Morinis: SIMPLICITY]. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.

     INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful.

     SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, speak accordingly.

     JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

     MODERATION. Avoid extremes.

     CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.

     TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."

     CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

     HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. [And of course, we could add Moses, Jacob, others.]

Humility

How much space to take?

More, if we need a leader,

Less, and others rise.

Patience

Light snow falls slowly,

God is ever so patient;

I ask why aren’t I?

Gratitude

Grateful for good is

Easy. Seeing good in bad

Requires more practice.

           Compassion

Compassion requires

Connection with the other;

God shows us the way.

  Order

A pure soul rests on

A well ordered life. Besides,

It’s nice to find things.

         Equanimity

Calm within the eye

Of the storm, I awake to

Life’s curriculum.

Honor

Your essence is a

Gift of incomparable

Beauty and splendor.     (Morinis)

Feeling joy through an

Other’s gain is a “good eye,”

or ayin tovah.

Trust

Trust God with all your

Heart, and on your under-

Standing do not lean.                   (Proverbs 3:5)

Mussar Haiku, by Rob Elliott

Simplicity

Less stuff of course, plus

Grateful for all my blessings

Lightens my spirit.

            Enthusiasm

Opportunities

To act are gifts in our hands.

Do it now, lively.

Silence

“Soft, gentle rustling”

Of the divine can be heard

only in silence.

           Generosity

Give with all your heart.

God’s reward is His presence

Dwelling among us.

 Truth

Speaking your mind to

Harm another and calling

It Truth, hurts your soul.

           Moderation

Jacob provides a

Model: “Give me bread to eat,

A garment to wear.”

        Loving-Kindness

Hillel: “If I am

Only for myself, what am

I? … If not now, when?”

          Responsibility

Outside ourselves is

The other. Our work within:

To advance the soul.