[Avodah] Mussar

[Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer]

Weighing in somewhat late here in the conversation...


What is lacking in Reb Micha's otherwise masterly presentation of the 
Mussar Derech, is the emphasis that it places on /yirah:/ Both /yiras 
ha'romemus/ and /yiras ha'onesh/, but generally under the umbrella of 
/yiras shomayim/.


The one time I spoke at one of Alan Morinis' confabs, I stressed the 
integral and essential nature of the component of /yiras shomayim/ in 
the Mussar /mahalach/. (I suspect that this emphasis is one of the 
reasons I was not asked to ever speak for them again...)


As I wrote many years ago on Avodah, it is /yirah/ that is most closely 
associated with /simchah/. Mussar without the true /yiras shomayim/ of 
R' Avrohom Elya Kaplan is indeed a morose business. But the flip side is 
that true /simchah/ is only achievable if one is working on Mussar - any 
other /simchah/ is fleeting and temporary. Indeed, even the /simchah 
/of  /Talmud Torah /is to a large extent contingent on being actually 
involved in learning, in real time. Mussar gives one the satisfaction of 
being a /Mevakesh Hashem/ at all times.


KT,

YGB

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