http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/ Torah Insights Into How We Tick Sun, 16 May 2010 21:56:03 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/comment-page-1/#comment-13952 Sarah Tue, 20 May 2008 18:40:31 +0000 http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/#comment-13952 You did! Thanks! You did! Thanks!

]]> http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/comment-page-1/#comment-13730 David Jaffe Fri, 16 May 2008 01:20:58 +0000 http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/#comment-13730 Yasher Koach for this article. I teach Mussar in the Boston area and am glad to have this piece to share with my students. What do you say to students who can't relate to a God beyond a distant creator who set the universe in motion and now is no longer involved? The idea of a personal God to emulate and feel close to is an alien concept to them. How can they understand the purpose of Mussar avodah as being about getting closer to Hashem, when, for them, there is nothing out there to connect with? I'd appreciate any eitzot in this area. Kol tuv, David Jaffe Yasher Koach for this article. I teach Mussar in the Boston area and am glad to have this piece to share with my students. What do you say to students who can’t relate to a God beyond a distant creator who set the universe in motion and now is no longer involved? The idea of a personal God to emulate and feel close to is an alien concept to them. How can they understand the purpose of Mussar avodah as being about getting closer to Hashem, when, for them, there is nothing out there to connect with? I’d appreciate any eitzot in this area.
Kol tuv,
David Jaffe

]]> http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/comment-page-1/#comment-13307 Moshe Shuchatowitz Fri, 02 May 2008 08:44:48 +0000 http://mussar-psych.org/2008/04/26/the-difference-between-mussar-and-self-improvement/#comment-13307 Great and important question! Good answer, but it seems to me that the question is larger and broader than the answer. If this is the whole answer to this primary question "who needs Torah and Mussar why not just self improvement programs" then if in fact a person has the proper Torah perspective that the end goal is not just a better more successful life in this world but the attaining of merit to be worthy of the closeness to God in Olam Haba the original question returns for the real, ideal, process etc., "who needs Torah and Mussar why not just self improvement programs" Great and important question! Good answer, but it seems to me that the question is larger and broader than the answer. If this is the whole answer to this primary question “who needs Torah and Mussar why not just self improvement programs” then if in fact a person has the proper Torah perspective that the end goal is not just a better more successful life in this world but the attaining of merit to be worthy of the closeness to God in Olam Haba the original question returns for the real, ideal, process etc., “who needs Torah and Mussar why not just self improvement programs”

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