A 4-session adult education program developed by Dr. Alan Morinis, founder of The Mussar Institute (TMI).

Mussar is an authentic Jewish spiritual path of character development. It takes a holistic approach by combining Jewish text study and experiential practices. Mussar guides you in identifying your unique, personal spiritual path of growth and offers practices to assist you on your journey. Practicing Mussar involves becoming aware of your own inner obstacles and working towards the best version of yourself. Participation in TMI programs does not require knowledge of Hebrew or a Jewish upbringing.

We will offer the Taste of Mussar program which consists of 4 small group discussion
sessions (va’ad study) and includes working on two soul traits (middot), Humility or
Anavah and Enthusiasm or Z’rizut. Since Mussar study will be new to many, the 1 st
session will be an intro/orientation session to learn about the program without making
any additional commitment. We will send out reading material ahead of time and the
session will review Mussar principles and ways of working on traits along with
opportunities for discussion and questions. Those who remain interested can then sign
up for the remaining 3 sessions that include middot study.

Eric Henley has been a Beth El member for the past 2+ years. Eric moved to Durham
with his wife Susanna 5 years ago to be near their younger daughter. He began
studying Mussar about 15 years ago and completed a series of formal courses offered
by TMI. For the past 8 years, Eric continued his Mussar studies through bi-weekly
virtual Chevruta meetings and shared text study with an Orthodox Mussar student from
Memphis who also studied with TMI for years. Several months ago, Eric completed
TMI’s 6-session Yesod course that prepares students to facilitate Mussar programs in
their community, and this led to his offering to lead an intro Mussar program for Beth El.