Long Beach Jewish Life March, 2014 | Page 16

an important central concept within Judaism. But Morinis asks, "Where does the inner fit in? Where is the Tikkun Midot (repairing the character)? When does working on yourself come in? This is no critique of Tikkun Olam, but there's this other reality where we all actually live."

Morinis explains that he founded The Mussar Institute 10 years ago, " To provide a Jewish spiritual path that leads to wisdom, awareness and transformation. But we only provide the path! It's a pathway that has been carved out and marked and tested and revised over the last 1100 years. It's your job to walk the pathway."

Morinis goes on to explain the two components to walking the pathway of Mussar. "One is study, because there is deep wisdom about the inner life that has developed in the Jewish world over this very long time. And this wisdom is uniquely and distinctively Jewish. There is a Jewish understanding of humility. There is a Jewish understanding of anger. There is a Jewish understanding of envy. All of our inner experiences can be seen through a very specific Jewish understanding, which was developed over time by our wise ancestors. "

But Morinis is quick to add, "If it's only studied, it's not of very much value. It doesn't have much impact in life. It has to also be practiced. And that aspect of practice is very central to what Mussar is about. A great Mussar teacher defined Mussar as, 'Making the heart feel what the mind knows.' You can have understanding. After all, I know what humility is. But knowing what humility is doesn't make you humble."

May 4-7, The Mussar Institute is hosting its first ever Mussar Practice Retreat at the Brandeis-Bardin campus of American Jewish University, near Los Angeles Morinis believes that the retreat can be of benefit to anyone who is engaged in the human experience. That is, all of us.

As he explains, "Each of us has certain inner traits which we keep tripping over. One person may be very impatient. Another person may be quite patient, but may also be miserly. These inner traits are different for each of us. And that's the starting point of the retreat. It's going to offer attendees a real opportunity to take the issues that are their personal inner challenges and work on them in a guided, structured way. "

ONE ON ONE ALAN MORINIS

LBJL March 2014 | www.lbjewishlife.com

"Very often in spiritual teaching, people mistake the roadsign for the road. I'm a roadsign. I'm a practitioner. I'm another pilgrim on the path. That's the basis of my teaching."