Musar Movement - The Study and Practice of Musar

The Study and Practice of Musar

The Musar Institute website explains that:

Musar is a path of contemplative practices and exercises that have evolved over the past thousand years to help an individual soul to pinpoint and then to break through the barriers that surround and obstruct the flow of inner light in our lives. Musar is a treasury of techniques and understandings that offers immensely valuable guidance for the journey of our lives.... The goal of Musar practice is to release the light of holiness that lives within the soul. The roots of all of our thoughts and actions can be traced to the depths of the soul, beyond the reach of the light of consciousness, and so the methods Musar provides include meditations, guided contemplations, exercises and chants that are all intended to penetrate down to the darkness of the subconscious, to bring about change right at the root of our nature.

Musar practices include text study, meditation, silence and retreat, diary practices, chanting, contemplations, visualization, and doing actions on behalf of others. One of the central practices of the Musar movement was studying and meditating on classical Musar literature. Classics of Musar literature which were greatly valued by the Musar movement included:

• Chovot HaLevavot, by Rabbi Bahya ibn Paquda (11th century)
• Ma'alot HaMiddot, by Rabbi Yehiel ben Yekutiel Anav of Rome
• Kad HaKemah, by Rabbi Bahya ben Asher, a Spanish kabbalist
• Mesillat Yesharim, and Derech Hashem, by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
• Orchot Tzaddikim (The Ways of the Righteous), by an anonymous author
• Tomer Devorah (The Palm Tree of Deborah) by Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
• Shaarei Teshuvah (The Gates of Repentance) by Rabbi Yonah Gerondi
• Hilchot Deot by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon)
• The Eight Chapters by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon)
• Madreigat Ha'Adam by Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz
• Cheshbon HaNefesh (Accounting of the Soul) by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lefin of Satanov (based in part on Benjamin Franklin's idea of the thirteen virtues)
• "The Musar Letter" of the Vilna Gaon

Salanter recommended studying musar literature in a group. In one passage he spoke of meeting for study on the Sabbath:

The busy man does evil wherever he turns. His business doing badly, his mind and strength become confounded and subject to the fetters of care and confusion. Therefore appoint a time on the Holy Sabbath to gather together at a fixed hour... the notables of the city, whom many will follow, for the study of morals. Speak quietly and deliberately without joking or irony, estimate the good traits of man and his faults, how he should be castigated to turn away from the latter and strengthen the former. Do not decide matters at a single glance, divide the good work among you-- not taking up much time, not putting on too heavy a burden. Little by little, much will be gathered... In the quiet of reflection, in reasonable deliberation, each will strengthen his fellow and cure the foolishness of his heart and eliminate his lazy habits.