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By Carol Robinson Signs of spring are visible in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live. The winter rains are stopping, temperatures are rising and plants are bursting with gorgeous blooms. Spring is a time of new growth, and so too the Mussar Institute is blossoming. After four years on the board and two years as co-president, my term is coming to an end. When we established this board structure with co-presidents, we agreed that each year a co-president would rotate off and a new person would become co-president. The Mussar Institute is extremely fortunate that Modya Silver of Toronto has agreed to become the new co-president with Jeff Agron. I am grateful to have had board service on my spiritual curriculum. There were many challenges, but I can see that the seeds that were planted years ago have come to fruition. Two major efforts of my term as co-president, fiscal stability and strategic planning, have led to a stronger organization focused on a vision to foster the learning and practice of Mussar within the Jewish community through education, action, community and relationship-building goals that were first articulated in the organization’s strategic plan. There are many signs of healthy growth – a successful kallah in New York City, the graduation of the first cohort of Manchim, the first course delivered by video and other new initiatives still in development. Online learning is busy and local groups run by our newly trained Manchim facilitators are proliferating. Our community is bursting at the seams with over 3,500 registered members. But even more important than the structure is the feedback we receive about how Mussar has changed lives – it is not hyperbole to say that TMI is improving the spiritual lives of Jews across the world and in doing so brings Jews closer to HaShem. I am grateful for my own Mussar work and for the opportunity to spread the seeds of Mussar. None of this would have been possible without you, the community fostered by Mussar study and work. TMI is an organization driven by volunteers, and TMI is grateful for everyone who has supported its work – leaders and members of committees, financial donors, facilitators and teachers, chevrutahs for prisoners and board members. There are so many ways to be a part of (and contribute to) the Mussar community, such as:
Again I want to say how grateful I am for the experience of the past years. But this isn’t goodbye – I’d rather say Lehitraot. Carol Robinson |
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