Start your Mussar Journey with CCM
CCM renews spiritual practice and Jewish text to transform relationships, awakening each person to their profound responsibility for the other. 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 four years.
Check out the list of available classes below!
Upcoming classes
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Light in the Darkness: A Deep Dive into the Middah of Generosity
7-8 p.m. ET | Monday, December 23
A special Hannukah event, lead by CCM founders Beu Trey & Nancy Axelrod, with a teaching from Rabbi Joshua Boettiger, facilitated by Sonia Voynow. Come explore how the character trait of generosity can help us bring more light into the darkness.
*Open to new students!
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Changing the World with Mussar
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. CST | Jan. 5 - Feb. 5, 2025
The world is in transition, and so are we. Mussar practice can help guide us to embrace change and to put into action the Torah principle of loving our neighbors as ourselves. In this four-week class, we will study the Mussar middot (ethical values) of Humility, Patience, Respect, Trust, and Rest through a social justice lens. For our text study, we will use Rabbi David Jaffe's book, Changing the World from the Inside Out. You are invited to obtain the book and read Part One and Part Two before the first class.
*Open to new students!
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Maimonides and Mussar
1-2 p.m. ET | Jan. 9 - Feb. 20, 2025
One of the earliest ethical treatises in Jewish is Maimonides' commentary on the Tractate Pirke Avot from the Mishnah. That commentary, called "The Eight Chapters" will be the subject of the class. We will do a close reading of the text and discuss its implications for contemporary Mussar thought and practice.
*Open to new students!
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Seeds of Mussar
9-10:30 a.m. MT, Sundays | Jan. 19 - Feb. 16, 2025
*This introductory class is designed for new students!
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Foundations/Kibbush 1
4-5:30 p.m. CST, Tuesdays | Jan. 7 - May 20, 2025
Barbara Rubin-Greenberg & Heidi Schneider
*Open to new students!
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Foundations/Kibbush 1
12:30 - 2 p.m. CST, Sundays | Jan. 12 - March 30, 2025
This class takes place in-person in Austin, TX - Location TBD
*Open to new students in TX only!
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Mussar Torah Study
7-7:30 p.m. ET, Tuesdays | Oct. 22, 2024 - May, 2025
Joshua Boettiger & guests
Join us as each week where one of our rotating band of scholars will lead a half-hour teaching/discussion on the weekly parsha, from a Mussar perspective.
*Open to new students!
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Weekly Mussar Meditations
10-10:30 a.m. ET | Wednesdays
Mussar is fundamentally a mindfulness practice; that is, in order to truly practice Mussar, one needs to be ever more aware of what is actually happening – not just immediately responding to projections, fears, and entitlements. I think some sort of meditation practice is necessary as a precursor to practicing Mussar, but increasingly I feel like it’s even more than that – Mussar is what meditation looks like when one leaves the cushion and enters the realm of relationship.
*Free & open to new students!
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Foundations/Kibbush 3
7:30 - 9 p.m. CT, Tuesdays | Jan. 14 - April 1, 2025
*This class is not available to new students
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Tomer Devorah Plus
7:30-9:30 p.m. ET, Mondays | Feb. 17 - May 12
*New students must contact the madrich before registering: martin.jacobs@verizon.net
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Transformations/Tikkun 1
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. MT | Jan. 6 - March 31, 2025
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Transformations/Tikkun 2
10-11:30 a.m. ET | Jan. 13 - May 19, 2025
*This class is not available to new students
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Transformations/Tikkun 3
4:15-5:45 p.m. ET, Wednesdays | Jan. 15 - May 21, 2025
*This class is not available to new students
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The Aleph Va'ad: Intro to Bachya ibn Paquda
In addition to the classes listed above, CCM also offers:
Madrichim Training Course — available to those who have completed the 3-year CCM curriculum and who are accepted into the teacher training program.
Rabbis Mussar Cohort — a year-long course offered to Rabbis with Mussar experience who are looking for deeper training and community.
Local Mussar classes — our madrichim are spread out throughout the United States and Canada, and many teach Mussar classes at their local synagogues.