Twice a month on Thursdays 10am-noon, beginning Jan. 9th, 2025

Facilitated by Rabbi Tamar Magill-Grimm

Cost: $360, scholarship available, cost is not a barrier to participation

In collaboration with Twin Cities Mussar and Center for Contemporary Mussar, Beth Jacob is excited to offer a Mussar Va’ad this year.  A Va’ad is a group of people working together to cultivate Mussar practices, Jewish mindfulness practices, in their lives.

Mussar refers to a spiritual perspective, a discipline of transformative practices, and a popular movement that developed primarily in Lithuania in the second half of the nineteenth century, under the leadership of Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter.  The word mussar means “correction” or instruction, and it is the modern Hebrew word for “ethics.”  Mussar practice can be thought of as a way of life designed to help us reach our highest spiritual potential.  It can also be described as a way of helping us to become mensches, decent human beings.  According to Alan Morinis, by refining and elevating your inner life and nourishing the soul, you clarify your inner lights and thus become a lamp shedding light into the world.  

In our Va’ad we will be using Alan Morinis’ book Everyday Holiness to guide us through developing a mussar practice in our own lives.  The Va’ad will meet twice a month on Thursdays, 11am-1pm, January 9th through June 12th, 2025.  Participants will also meet with a chevrutah (study partner) on the intervening weeks. 

Please feel free to contact rabbitamar@beth-jacob.org with any questions.

Registration Deadline Extended