The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life

by Barry H. Block (Editor), Alan Morinis (Foreword)

This mussar-based commentary is a vital resource for Torah study, offering a thoughtful analysis of each of the 54 weekly parashot. Each essay in this anthology brings a parashah into juxtaposition with one of the mussar middot (character traits as described within the Jewish school of ethics called mussar), thereby providing an applied lens of mussar teachings that helps us to delve deeper into our tradition with increased mindfulness and intention.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Religion, Spirituality

402 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2019

Reviews

[Donna Herrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strive conscientiously.

This is a wonderful introduction to Mussar, the Jewish discipline for improving one's awareness and practice of personal traits, called middot, such as strength, humility, generousity, and justice. Each week is devoted to a middot. Each day includes a quotation from Torah or Talmud or renowned Rabbis from history, a mantra for the week, and a simple practice that will grow that middot in your self.

[shiloh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading this book (iteratively) to get some extra context for my Mussar discussion group and have gotten a lot out of it with the different chapters on various middot. I'm trying to get better at close reading the Torah/parashot, and there's certainly a lot to chew on in this book in regards to that, but it's also a very illuminating book with ample discussion on living a meaningful life grounded in Jewish ethics.

[Stanley Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great values and ethics book.

Sacred values on every page for the entire five books of Moses
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy . Great! Buy It!

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and its functional perspective on Torah. I look forward to reading it again. This book is a definite recommend.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so wish I had pick this book up when I first discovered it! Such a gem. I didn’t always agree with every weekly portion but the ones that I did out weighed the rest. So good.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many lenses through which to view the Torah. Over the years, a variety of commentaries have appeared focusing on specific viewpoints – from feminist to LGBTQ to men’s issues – in order to challenge our ideas about the biblical text. One recent work offers a different approach: “The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life” edited by Rabbi Barry H. Block (Central Conference of American Rabbis) uses Mussar principles to offer insights into better understanding the text and create more spiritual lives.
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...

[Phyllis BB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marked "Read" but a book I returned to often. An interesting variety of authors.