TITLE: Practicing Compassion: How the heart can learn what the mind understands GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Alan Morinis SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Alan Morinis, DPhil. is the Founder of The Mussar Institute and an active interpreter of the teachings and practices of the Mussar tradition, about which he regularly gives lectures and workshops. Born and raised in a culturally Jewish but non-observant home, he studied social anthropology at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, earning his doctorate at that university. He has written books and produced films and documentaries and has taught at several universities. For the past twenty years the nearly-lost Jewish spiritual discipline of Mussar has been his passion, a journey recorded in the book Climbing Jacob’s Ladder (Broadway 2002). His guide to Mussar, entitled Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar, was published in 2007 and become a best-selling handbook to Mussar for this generation. His guide to Mussar practice, Every Day, Holy Day, came out in 2010. His newest book, With Heart in Mind, was published in August 2014 (all from Trumpeter Books).