In Search of the Holy Life

About the Book

We began our Mussar journey by following the practice instituted by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter in Lithuania in the nineteenth century: a Mussar practice characterized by discipline and kibbush (restraint) as a path to self-improvement. We turned our inward-facing journeys outward and applied Mussar’s principles to the way we treated other people in our everyday lives. We would focus on the small but critical moments of human interaction and connection that make up our days and undergird our relationships. This prescription had the potential to serve as an antidote to the narcissism and isolation of our age, and in doing so, it could recast the very definition of the Divine for a contemporary audience.

About the Author

Rabbi Ira Stone serves as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Center for Contemporary Mussar. He has served congregations in Seattle, WA, and Philadelphia, PA. He was the spiritual leader at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel, Philadelphia, for 27 years and is now Rabbi Emeritus. Rabbi Stone’s first book on mussar is A Responsible Life: The Spiritual Path to Mussar (Aviv Press, 2006). His innovative commentary on Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto’s Mesillat Yesharim was published by The Jewish Publication Society in September 2010. With his collaborator, Dr. Beulah Tray, he is currently writing a translation of and commentary on the Mussar classic, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah. These commentaries are central to the curriculum of CCM.He is also the author of Reading Levinas/Reading Talmud (JPS, 1998), Seeking the Path to Life (Jewish Lights, 1993) -------------- Dr. Beulah Trey is a founder of the Center for Contemporary Mussar and Director of Curriculum & Practice , in addition to teaching advanced classes, is responsible for curriculum development and group process training. Born into a South African Jewish family, raised in an orthodox Jewish community, married into a fourth generation reform family, follower of a conservative Rabbi and a member of a Reconstructionist synagogue, finding Mussar has given Beulah a practice that incorporates the diverse paths inside and outside Judaism that have nurtured her soul. Aware of the power of Mussar to transform lives, she pioneers the applications of these practices to leadership, team and organizational transformation. The Center for Contemporary Mussar was launched in August 2017, as an independent non-profit organization, after more than 15 years as a synagogue-based program (The Mussar Leadership Program). We offer introductory and continuing classes that focus on Mussar texts, theology and practice. Students commit for a semester at a time; a complete curriculum is offered over a period of four years.