daily practice

in the morning... meditate  - on the middah for the week repeat - the memory verse of the week be aware - of behaviors during the day, moments that elucidate middot work

in the evening... journal - positive or negative moments related to the weekly middah account -by filling in your daily or chesbon hanefesh chart

weekly practice

during the week... gather - once or twice with your chevruta (partner) for study repeat - the memory verse of the week be aware - of behaviors during the day, moments that elucidate middot work

after sundown on saturday night... finish - journal entries for friday and saturday and score yourself in your charts assess - your scores in your journal charts by tallying them and reflecting on the results

why mussar?

Mussar is a discipline of steady personal character refinement.  Our Mussar Master, Messiah Yeshua taught us how we should bring good fruit as a demonstration of our purposeful lives.  Mussar is one important component of being a disciple and light of Messiah. You are the light of the world.  A city that sits on the mountain will not be hidden, nor do people kindle a lamp just to put it under the bushel measure, but on the menorah, to illuminate all who are in the house.  So also, shine your light before sons of men, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, DHE)

from the mussar masters

"Woe to the pampered one who has never been trained to be patient. Either today or in the future he is destined to sip from the cup of affliction."  -- Rabbi M. M. Leffin, Cheshbon ha-Nefesh

"Slowness to anger [shows] much understanding, but a short-spirited person elevates foolishness." -- Proverbs 14:29 Stone Tanach

"The key to everything is patience.  You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it."  -- Arnold H. Glasgow 

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears."  -- Barbara Johnson

"Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength." -- Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

"Perseverance prevails even against Heaven." -- Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a

"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute." -- Mishlei 15:18

"Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health." -- Michel de Montaigne

"I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry." -- Tehillim 40:1

"Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the LORD." -- James 5:10

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." -- Ephesians 4:2

why do mussar?

The vision of the Riverton Mussar project is a bold one forged out of several years of leading a community, teaching Torah and working toward a meaningful life.  As we moved toward the end of the year 5770, a vision of the next year began to sharpen into focus.  This would be a new year of community transformation.  For several generations, our community has endeavored to build the Malkut HaShamayim (Kingdom of Heaven).  We have laid many bricks for this kingdom and have a solid foundation.  Even with our studies and community support system, each year we come to the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur) with an accounting of many of the same personal weaknesses.  

Aware of the ever present struggles in our lives, the lives of our congregants, and our wider movement, we decided to formalize the practice of personal character growth.  There are many approaches to this.  Go to your local book store and you will find shelves full of "self help" books.  You'll see pastors, priests, and rabbis on television and the Internet who have all the solutions for you.  We've all resolved to make changes each new year, but struggle to stay on track long enough to affect permanent change.  After much searching, we felt the best solution to this pale effort was to tap into an ancient Jewish tradition, a 13-step program to becoming a better human being.  The practice of Mussar is rooted in Hebrew scriptures and was codified through the ages.  Many other branches of Judaism have experienced great renewal through Mussar. 

We began to realize we needed to bring it into our community and movement too, and even more so because we have the ultimate Mussar Master - Messiah Yeshua.  We soon realized the enormous potential of giving people the tools to become the people Yeshua calls us to be. Yeshua's invitation to take up his yoke in his Kingdom is established on the foundation of repentance and turning away from our destructive habits.  The lessons he taught us were not just for the world to come but for this world.

R. Pinchas ben Yair once said:

"Torah leads to Watchfulness;
Watchfulness leads to Zeal;
Zeal leads to Cleanliness;
Cleanliness leads to Separation;
Separation leads to Purity;
Purity leads to Saintliness;
Saintliness leads to Humility;
Humility leads to Fear of Sin;
Fear of Sin leads to Holiness;
Holiness leads to the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit leads to the Revival of the Dead."
(Avodah Zara 20b)

The Talmud shows us that our call to be a light of Torah ultimately leads to our living a life everlasting, but many steps of personal transformation must occur along our journey in this life.  This kind of transformation is needed universally by all.  In our vision, Mussar became the perfect paradigm to teach life transformation to Jews and non-Jews alike.  The program would seek to integrate the wisdom of Torah (Hebrew Scriptures), Mesorah (Jewish Tradition), and Besorah ("Good News" - Yeshua's life and teachings) into a life practice that yields long lasting results.  This paradigm has been fundamental to the call of being a follower of Yeshua.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  (James 1:19-21, ESV)

As we contemplated the scale of this program we realized that the true power of Mussar is self-discovery and development of concrete actions that counter our negative character traits.  What if we provided a way for members to share their discoveries and life wisdom with each other?  Mussar is traditionally practiced with a partner (chevrutah) with whom you study and to whom you are accountable.  We then developed the idea of a social network where we all can study with each other and learn from each other's discoveries.  The website would be an open forum for Mussar wisdom and discovery.  I call this approach "open-source," a term applied to software built by a community of devoted authors with a common interest. 

Here are the unique elements Riverton Mussar provides:

• a way of life transformation approachable by Jewish and non-Jewish followers alike
• full integration of Yeshua's teachings as the perfect Mussar Master
• insights, commentary, and advice from a network of leaders in the messianic movement
• an "open-source" social support network where we can encourage each other in growth and share our discoveries as we realign our own lives
• community (both physical and virtual) accountability.  The impact of a large group of people working on the same character trait each week is powerful. 

We see ourselves not as Mussar Masters ourselves.  We merely hope to provide the tools and inspiration for growth in our movement beyond the walls of our synagogue.  From those I've already talked to, there is great hunger building for this.  May Hashem bless us together as we aspire to be the human beings worthy to sit at our Master's feet.

Rabbi Rafael
Tishrei 5771

getting started

Here's how it all works. The chart below shows how this website will aid you through the process of making your life a wellspring.  This is not a passive study program.  The key to tuning your character traits is making mussar an active daily practice with the steps below.

 

signup

commit

• If you are looking for a meaningful mussar practice in a committed community, then look no further.  Signup with Riverton Mussar on the homepage to receive the weekly email with the middah (character trait) of the week, and donate to keep the program going.

get source books

• We recommend having a copy of Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis, and a journal.  These can be found here.  Other books recommendations are here.

weekly activities

jumpstart

• You week will start out by reading an email which will be sent to you from the Riverton Mussar website on Saturday night.  This will summarize the middah for the week and help you get started .  Take time on Sunday to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to this middah.

prepare

• Use the resources on this website to understand the nature of the middah for the week. Acquaint yourself with the middah and inspire yourself with the various writings regarding work on this trait.  In addition, read your classic and contemporary mussar texts to help supplement your learning.

partner

• Schedule time with your chevrutah partner for study during the week.  If you get together in the latter half of the week, this will give you both time to observe and discuss your own interactions regarding the weekly middah before getting together.

reflect

• On Saturday evening, after sundown, finish your final journal entry for the previous week by looking back at your weekly experiences.  Review your journal entries and summarize your discoveries for the past week.  Add up your accounting for each day and review the results. 

 

daily activities

meditation (hitbonenut)

• this is best perfomed in the morning before the days' duties
• find a quiet spot to sit in where you will be undisturbed for at least 10 minutes
• allocate the time to meditate as a necessity, like you would to eat breakfast or shower
• find a comfortable space on the floor and breathe in and out  - and notice your breath
• when your breath becomes uncalculated and you find a natural rhythm, you are ready to proceed
• say, think or feel shlema (wholeness) – focus and block out external noises and mind noise
• don’t wander, come back if necessary in your meditation
• at the end of the day write what distracts you during your meditation in your journal (as it will illuminate what middot are your working points in your morning mantra)

nourish

• Use the resource page for the middah to gain insights and experiences from mussar masters, leaders, and fellow members.  As the community grows, this resource collection will grow.  While each of our experiences are unique, many of these insights will nourish your soul with wisdom and give you the tools for self-awareness and growth.

observe

• As you progress through each day, make a mental note of your successes and failures as they relate to the weekly middah.

  Become sensitive to the soul traits inside you.  Heighten your awareness.  It means being aware of the seed of a thought, word, feeling or deed as early as possible in its cycle of germination and birth.  As you go through each day, recognize when your middah is being challenged and how you respond to a particular situation.

correct

• On Saturday evening, after sundown, look back at your experiences of the week.  Review your journal entries and summarize your discoveries for the week. After you add up your accounting for each day and review the results, make a mental note of where your inability to master self-restraint affected your performance of a particular middah.
  As you prepare to enter a new week, consider where your need to improve lies.  In order to have success in the next week, resolve to be more aware of your behavioral patterns and reign in potentially damaging behavior.  Are you prone to lust?  Look the other way.  Do you have a tendency towards lying?  Perhaps in tandem you need to not only master truth but silence.  Rework problematic soul traits to the root so that it is not a barrier to the soul.  

  Harness the power to correct your middot with this thought:

  "External motions instigate internal motions."  --Rav Chaim Luzzatto

share

• The power of Riverton Mussar lies in being a collective.  As we share our experiences in an objective fashion with many members, we empower and encourage those around us who may struggle with the same middah that it is possible to change and achieve more wholeness.  Members will be encouraged to participate in our private Facebook discussion group.

journal

• Each day, it is imperative to journal before retiring.  This includes scoring yourself on the 13 middot and journaling on one or many experiences which reflect on the main middah of focus for the week.  The only night where you would not journal is Friday night, since it is the Shabbat.  Rather, you would journal Friday and Saturday's progress for both days accordingly in your journal following the close of Shabbat.  When you have finished those two entries and accounting, look back at your experiences for the week.  Review your journal entries and summarize your discoveries for the week.  Add up your accounting for each day and review the results.  The cycle begins again each 13 weeks, so you will be able to work on this middah again in 3 months so keep in mind you will have the ability to return to a particular middah again as need be.

questions to ask yourself

Use these questions to evaluate your day:

1. What tests did you encounter today?
2. Were there any surprises today that caught you off guard?  Were they based on some pre-set expectations you had?  How did you handle them?
3. Think of several good things that happened today.  What was your reaction to them compared to the difficult things?
4. If you were unsettled today by something, what did you do to get yourself balanced?  What worked and what didn't?
5. Were you able to use prayer or meditation to calm your soul?

contemporary resources

We have been inspired by these books and are so grateful to Alan Morinis for his work inspiring a new generation of Mussar students.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder: One Man's Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition by Alan Morinis

Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis

Divine Reversal:  The Transforming Ethics of Jesus by Russ Resnik

contemporary resources

We have been inspired by these books and are so grateful to Alan Morinis for his work inspiring a new generation of Mussar students.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder: One Man's Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition by Alan Morinis

Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis

Divine Reversal:  The Transforming Ethics of Jesus by Russ Resnik