Mussar is a living tradition, carried forward through texts that open the heart, deepen awareness, and guide us toward becoming our best selves.
Below is a curated selection of books by teachers who have helped shape the contemporary Mussar movement, including works by our founder, Alan Morinis.
These books are wonderful companions for personal study and can enrich your journey whether you are brand new to Mussar or seeking to go deeper.
Alan Morinis
A warm and accessible guide to Mussar practice, this book introduces key soul-traits such as humility, gratitude, patience, generosity, and trust. Through stories, teachings, and simple exercises, it helps readers bring spiritual awareness into daily life and take real steps toward becoming their best selves.
Alan Morinis
This book offers 48 guided spiritual practices for strengthening and opening the heart. Through short, accessible teachings, Alan explores traits such as humility, joy, awe, generosity, and goodheartedness, inviting readers to integrate these qualities into daily life. The result is a clearer path toward a refined soul and a more compassionate way of being.
Alan Morinis
In this deeply personal memoir, Alan Morinis shares the story of his spiritual search and his unexpected return to Jewish wisdom. After years of exploring Hinduism, yoga, and Buddhist meditation, a life crisis led him to discover Mussar, an ancient Jewish path of inner transformation. This book introduces the core teachings and practices he encountered and invites readers of all backgrounds to uncover the hidden radiance within themselves.
Alan Morinis
A daily companion for anyone seeking to bring Mussar into real life. This book explores 26 soul-traits — such as lovingkindness, strength, generosity, compassion, and equanimity — each practiced for one week through teachings, affirmations, and simple exercises. With space for reflection and journaling, it offers a practical and uplifting way to cultivate holiness in everyday moments.
Alan Morinis
This book explores how the weekly rhythm of Shabbat, combined with Mussar practice, can transform character and deepen the inner qualities that shape who we become. Alan Morinis shows how sacred rest opens space for clarity, compassion, and spiritual renewal, offering a practical path toward living with greater purpose, balance, and possibility in everyday life.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg
Rabbi Amy Eilberg draws on deep Jewish teachings to explore how we can meet conflict with compassion, curiosity, and courage. Blending wisdom from Jewish text with her years of work in chaplaincy, healing, and peace-building, she offers a hopeful and practical path for becoming rodfei shalom — pursuers of peace — in our relationships, communities, and the wider world.
Rabbi Micha Berger
Drawing on Rav Shimon Shkop’s foundational introduction to Shaarei Yosher, this book explores his powerful vision of human purpose, holiness, and what it means to live as a person created in the image of God. Rabbi Micha Berger brings these teachings into contemporary life, offering clear guidance for cultivating meaning, integrity, and spiritual responsibility in the modern world.
Rabbi David Jaffe
This award-winning book offers a clear and practical path for integrating spiritual growth with social action. Drawing on centuries of Jewish wisdom, Rabbi David Jaffe explores the inner qualities needed for meaningful and sustainable change, including motivation, trust, and the management of anger. Through guided practices, reflections, and exercises, he shows how activism becomes a spiritual discipline, and how transforming the world begins with transforming the self.
Ruchi Koval
This accessible guide introduces eight practical steps from the Mussar tradition to help readers shape character and live with greater purpose. Drawing on years of teaching and the real transformations she has seen, Ruchi Koval offers clear explanations and relatable stories that make Mussar practice usable for people of all backgrounds. The result is a straightforward roadmap for becoming a stronger and more ethical version of yourself.
Ruchi Koval
This daily reader brings the teachings of Pirkei Avot into clear, practical focus. Drawing inspiration from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Ruchi Koval offers 365 short reflections that blend timeless Jewish values with modern relevance. Each entry highlights an ethical insight and a simple way to apply it in everyday life. Warm, accessible, and grounded in tradition, this book guides readers on a year-long journey of personal growth and spiritual clarity.
Aryeh Ben David
This book explores what it means to become a more loving human being—toward ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world. Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, it presents love as a fundamentally spiritual experience that flows from the soul. Rav Kook teaches that love is not something we manufacture; it is the natural expression of our deepest essence. Aryeh Ben David offers an accessible doorway into this mystical vision, helping readers rediscover love as their truest way of being.
Marga Vogel and Michelle Princenthal
This enchanting tale follows Ruben and Rivka as Wise Tree sends them on a quest to fill a special bottle with ten marbles found across a series of small islands. To reach each island, they must face the looking glass, confronting their inner selves before moving forward. Along the journey, they meet Rara Rattlesnake, who tempts and distracts them, and Butterfly Fairy, who offers steady guidance. Through challenges and choices, the children learn to discern between the pull of the yetzer hara and the yetzer tov. Their final reward is meaningful, yet the true treasure is the wisdom and self-awareness they gain on the way.
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