Start your Mussar Journey with CCM
CCM renews spiritual practice and Jewish text to transform relationships, awakening each person to their profound responsibility for the other. We offer introductory and continuing classes that focus on Mussar texts, theology, and practice. Students commit for a semester at a time; a complete curriculum is offered over four years. We also offer specialty classes open to new students each semester focused on different themes.
Check out the list of available classes below!
Available classes
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Weekly Mussar Meditations
10-10:30 a.m. ET | Wednesdays
Mussar is fundamentally a mindfulness practice; that is, in order to truly practice Mussar, one needs to be ever more aware of what is actually happening – not just immediately responding to projections, fears, and entitlements. I think some sort of meditation practice is necessary as a precursor to practicing Mussar, but increasingly I feel like it’s even more than that – Mussar is what meditation looks like when one leaves the cushion and enters the realm of relationship.
*Free & open to new students!
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Tikkun Va'ad Judaism is About Love
9:30-11 a.m. CT, Thursdays | Apr. 23 - Dec. 17
For advanced Mussar students, this Va'ad will explore the theology of the Center for Contemporary Mussar and how, through our daily Mussar work, we "reveal spiritual practice and Jewish text to transform relationships, awakening in each person their profound responsibility to the other."
*This class is for advanced students only; prior teacher approval is required
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Mussar Yoga
6-7:30 p.m. CST, Wednesdays | June 24 - Aug. 26, 2026
Heidi Schneider & Ronna Rochell
This class will explore Mussar learning and practice through text study and yoga breathing and movements. We have found the interconnections between Mussar values and yoga principles have profound resonance. While Mussar is traditionally practiced through study of Jewish text and practical applications in one’s daily life, the addition of yoga can deepen the learning of Mussar into the breath and body itself.
*Open to students of all experience levels in Mussar or yoga practice
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Foundations/Kibbush 1
7 p.m. ET, Tuesdays | March 17 - June 9, 2026
Sandra Wortzel & Geoffrey Basik
Kibbush, which literally means “capture,” is the Mussar practice of self-restraint. This is a foundational step in Mussar practice and evokes the question: What is it that keeps us asleep, even as we desire to be awake to the needs of the other?
*THIS CLASS HAS BEEN POSTPONED
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Mussar of Aging, continued
7-8:30 p.m. CT, Monthly Mondays | Dec. 2025 - June 2026
Rabbi Harold Kravitz
Building on the Mussar of Aging Va'ad we offered Summer 2025, this will be an opportunity to look at additional middot and to further our practice. (In this course we will explore how we can apply the middot to our lives as we age or accompany aging relatives on their journey. Students will be paired in chevrutah for study outside of the class).
*This class is open to new and returning students
On-going Va’ads
(not open to new students, unless noted)
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Transformations and Beyond
10-11:30 a.m. ET, Mondays | Jan. 12 - May 18, 2026
This class will revisit some of the core Middot, and add the layer of navigating life and relationships through an aging lens
Not open to new students
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Tikkun of Aging II
4:15-5:45 p.m. ET, Wednesdays | Jan. 14 - May 20, 2026
Using the Tikkun Middot, we will continue to explore our maturing relationships with self and others
Open to Temple Beth Hillel continuing students only; class will meet in person.
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Transformations/Tikkun 3
11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. MT, Mondays | Jan. 26 - April 20
This class is the final continuation of the Transformations course and is open only to returning students of this vaad.
Not open to new students
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Tomer Devorah Plus
7-9 p.m. ET, Mondays | Feb. 16 - May 18
This is an advanced class, requiring completion of the basic CCM courses as a prerequisite. We focus our studies on Mussar-relevant texts.
*This class is for graduates of the CCM curriculum. New students should contact the madrich before registering at Martin.jacobs@verizon.net.
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Transformations/Tikkun 1
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT, Sundays | March 8 - June 7
This is the continuation of an on-going vaad and is not open to new students without prior approval.
In addition to the classes listed above, CCM also offers:
Madrichim Training Course — available to those who have completed the 3-year CCM curriculum and who are accepted into the teacher training program. Available now to those pre-approved!
Rabbis Mussar Cohort — a year-long course offered to Rabbis with Mussar experience who are looking for deeper training and community.
Local Mussar classes — our madrichim are spread out throughout the United States and Canada, and many teach Mussar classes at their local synagogues.