Tapestry: Mussar Through a Woman's Lens
A Course by Helaine Sheias & Nancy Weiss
Course Overview:
In response to the desire in the community to experience Mussar in a way that addresses a more inclusive approach, we have created an all-new course by and for women, with an open door to men. Tapestry includes va'ad and chevruta sessions over Zoom, as well as practice assignments.
וְיָדַעְתָּ֣ הַיּ֗וֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ֮ אֶל־לְבָבֶ֒ךָ֒
Know it today and bring it into your heart...
[Devarim 4:39]
The intention for Tapestry expands beyond traditional Mussar texts. With Tapestry, you will experience a broader, more inclusive focus as our Mussar community of spiritual seekers engage with the middot ‘through a woman’s lens,’ in study and experiential learning.
Throughout Tapestry, we open ourselves into a feminine approach to the inner life and the larger world by offering interpretations made by women, who bring with them their fullest selves—body, mind, heart, soul—to create a vibrant and colorful ‘Tapestry of Being in the World.’
Tapestry explores the following middot: Charitzut v'Behira / Decisive Choice Making, and Zerizut / Action-based Enthusiasm, as well as integration of the learning into lived experience.
The Mussar approach seeks to integrate intellectual learning with our hearts to motivate our outlooks and behaviors. In this course, we will seek to actualize our potential and access it through our practice to bring our own inner truths into action. This is:
"an invitation to being open to the possibility that our own experience of God may develop, deepen, and change over the course of our lives. Our lives may take many turns down a circuitous route. We are multifaceted. If we are created in God’s image, then God must be diverse and multifaceted too - for we are a reflection of our Creator. What beckons each of us is the moment in which we live to feel and to experience God integrated in our lives. Our Souls long for God, and God may long for us as well.”
- Because My Soul Longs for You, Edited by Edwin C Goldberg and Rabbi Elaine S Zecher, CCAR Press, 2021, pp. xiii -xiv
Mussar is an act of discipline; an ongoing practice of commitment and connectedness to one's self and others and to the Divine Presence.
Mussar provides us with a system of reminders and accountability. Integrating middot into the daily-ness of our lives leads us to the spiritual nature of our choice-making and its fulfillment, illuminating our accountability to ourselves, others, and the Divine Presence.
Format and Delivery:
Requirement: Completion of least one year of TMI va'ad-based coursework, such as Pathway to the Inner Life I-III or equivalent.
Duration: 6 va'ad meetings, 5 chevruta meetings over 11 weeks.
Delivery: Live Web Meetings
Modalities: Va'ad and chevruta components, assigned practices
Sessions/Facilitators:
Helaine Sheias, Tuesdays, 1:30-3pm ET, 2/20-5/7/2024
Tuition:
Tier 1 - $330Tier 2 - $282Tier 3 - $198
Chaverim members enjoy a 15% discount off of course pricing. Members, please select the Chaverim rate of your choice on your registration form, membership will be verified before your enrollment is secured for the course.
Learn About Our Tier Pricing Here.
*All course fees are 100% tax deductible.
Course Authors:
Helaine Sheias, Ph.D., made Aliyah to Israel in her teens, served in the IDF, and settled in Israel for more than two decades. She is a graduate of The Mussar Institute Yesod Facilitator Training Program and Manchim Advanced Facilitator Training. She has facilitated many TMI courses for the past three years guiding people to the sacred place within where unity integrates all polarities. This process facilitates circles of transformation and change by modeling spiritual awakening, and self-reflexive learning, or Hitlamdut.
Nancy Weiss is the director of TMI's Manchim Advanced Facilitator Training Program which she co-wrote with Alan Morinis, Founder. She is a depth psychotherapist, spiritual director, and is dedicated to helping others discover unique pathways to their soul’s expression. She serves on the Mussar Institute Facilitator Council. A collage artist, poet, and SoulCollage® facilitator, Nancy guides people in bringing an expressive voice to the Mussar traits and spiritual principles. Her collage art appears in Midrashic Mirrors, which illustrates the richness of creating art to reflect the essence of each Torah portion.