Special Women’s Shabbat and Spirituality Workshop June 22nd
Don’t Miss our Special Women’s Shabbat and Spirituality Workshop with Lisa Morris Miller, June 22nd at Solel!
This month, Lisa Morris Miller will be leading a special Women’s Shabbat and Spirituality Workshop on Saturday afternoon June 22nd from 2-6:30pm. This will be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a joyous and meaningful Shabbat of spiritual growth, mussar, friendship, dinner, and Havdalah with a circle of women. Join us! You will be enriched spiritually, in body, mind, and spirit.
If you haven’t heard of Mussar, here’s a brief overview. There is much more that Lisa will be teaching us and that we will experience together:
What is Mussar?
Mussar offers opportunities for personal transformation through a Jewish lens. It is a Jewish path of spiritual growth through awareness and improvement of character traits. Each trait is called a middah, and the goal is to achieve just the right balance of that trait in our souls, as expressed through our actions.
Why learn Mussar?
Mussar masters recognized that simply learning about kindness does not make us into kinder people. Through the use of personal ethical teachings, each person works on her own character to become better at being who we are meant to be. Through mindfulness and meditative practices one can become more aware of her impact in relationships with others and the world. Through the practice of mussar we learn how to focus on personal balance, spiritual awareness and spiritual transformation.
How do you practice Mussar?
The practice of Mussar begins with inner reflection on our lives and doing what is called in Hebrew “cheshbon ha’nefesh,” which translates into English as “accounting of the soul.” Cheshbon Hanefesh really describes spiritual reflection in order to discern your own spiritual curriculum.
Through this self-reflection, you choose your own spiritual curriculum from a list of character traits, or “middot”. You work on one middah, or character trait, at a time, through the use of a teaching or phrase that serves as a reminder throughout the day.
If you are seeking a soulful Shabbat, and want to become more aware of who you are spiritually, morally and ethically, this Shabbat is for you. We will open our hearts through meditation, music, and silence, and discuss Jewish teachings that give us wisdom for the journey of our souls. This Shabbat will be a day of learning and spiritual practice that connects us with one another, and opens spaces for new ways of thinking and being.
See you there!
Rabbi Audrey S. Pollack
Filed under: Rabbi's Message