[Avodah] critique of mussar

[T613K at aol.com]

From: David Riceman <driceman at att.net>
>>He told 
>  me that when he reads mussar sefarim he gets the impression of small 
>  mindedness; the concerns are very petty.  Whereas when he reads Rabbi  
> Kook "ze mamash marhiv et hada'at."<<




>>>>>
When I was a high school student in Bais Yakov, we used to have what were  
called "mussar" classes.  These consisted of a rebetzen yelling at us  because 
our skirts were too short, "and I don't understand how girls from fine  
chassidishe homes like yours can go around looking the way you do, you should be  
ashamed of yourselves."  It took me two decades to overcome the  emotional 
association of the word "mussar" with "boring and  sanctimonious."   By now I have 
read large chunks of classics like  Orchos Tzaddikim, Mesilas Yesharim and 
Sha'arei Teshuva and have managed to  divest myself of most negative associations, 
but I still think of this type of  seforim as akin to diet and exercise books 
-- good for you, but impossible to  read other than in small doses.  Not the 
kind of thing you find totally  absorbing and just /want/ to learn because 
it's so intrinsically fascinating and  intellectually stimulating.
 
That's why it amazes me that there could be something like a Mussar  
Institute or a mussar Shabbaton.  The appeal of an aish seminar or a Chabad  Shabbaton 
I totally get, the appeal of a mussar Shabbaton, I don't get --  about as 
appealing as a diet and exercise spa.


--Toby Katz
=============
Romney -- good  values, good family, good hair
Best hope against  Hillary



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