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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">Weighing in somewhat
late here in the conversation...</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">What is lacking in Reb
Micha's otherwise masterly presentation of the Mussar Derech, is the
emphasis that it places on <i>yirah:</i> Both <i>yiras ha'romemus</i>
and <i>yiras ha'onesh</i>, but generally under the umbrella of <i>yiras
shomayim</i>.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">The one time I spoke at
one of Alan Morinis' confabs, I stressed the integral and essential
nature of the component of <i>yiras shomayim</i> in the Mussar <i>mahalach</i>.
(I suspect that this emphasis is one of the reasons I was not asked to
ever speak for them again...)</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">As I wrote many years
ago on Avodah, it is <i>yirah</i> that is most closely associated with
<i>simchah</i>. Mussar without the true <i>yiras shomayim</i> of R'
Avrohom Elya Kaplan is indeed a morose business. But the flip side is
that true <i>simchah</i> is only achievable if one is working on
Mussar - any other <i>simchah</i> is fleeting and temporary. Indeed,
even the <i>simchah </i>of <i>Talmud Torah </i>is to a large
extent contingent on being actually involved in learning, in real time.
Mussar gives one the satisfaction of being a <i>Mevakesh Hashem</i> at
all times.</p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">KT,</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">YGB<br>
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