About Kirva

Kirva integrates Mussar (applied Jewish ethics) and Chassidic (applied Jewish mysticism) practice with social justice efforts.

What is Mussar?

Mussar is a millenia-old genre of Jewish wisdom and practice that helps people bridge the gap between ethical ideals and actual human behavior and action in the world. Mussar is a practical, relevant spiritual discipline that understands everyday, mundane life as a workshop for holiness. Kirva makes this wisdom tradition accessible to contemporary social activists, merging Tikkun Atzmi/self-development with Tikkun Olam/social change, helping practitioners to align values with behavior on the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and communal levels.

What is Chassidut?

Chassidut refers to the spiritual revival that swept Eastern European Jewry in the mid-18th century and still resonates strongly today. Features of Chassidut include living with joy, cultivating awareness of holiness in mundane, daily life, storytelling, dancing, singing, learning from inspired teachers and developing a direct relationship with God. Kirva draws mostly from the lineage of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (d. 1810, Ukraine), which emphasizes joy, yearning, unscripted conversations with God, and making a rigorous discipline of finding good in oneself and others. Kirva employs these spiritual disciplines to support the resilience, sense of connection, and motivation of activists working on the front lines of social change.

Our Values

All Are Made in the Divine Image

All people have infinite value, are unique, and are equally worthy. The world we aspire to create reflects this reality.

Cultivating Ratzon—Deep Desire & Yearning

Yearning for connection and the well-being of all creation is an essential human quality that is honored and cultivated through spiritual practice and necessary for social justice.

Social Justice is Spiritual Practice

Creating equitable and sustainable communities is an act of care and healing for ourselves, others, and the planet that nourishes the soul on a spiritual level.

Interdependence of All Life

All creation, including humanity, the variety of human cultures, animal life, and the planet, exists in a web of connection and interdependence. Knowing this reality at an embodied, felt level helps create the conditions for collective liberation.

Community

Sustaining a thriving, caring, and nurturing community is an essential component of Jewish spiritual practice.

Our Theory of Change

Through courses, cohort experiences, and communal activities grounded in Jewish teachings and texts, participants gain insight and practical tools for approaching social change work as a nourishing spiritual practice. Whether participants are interested in specific issues, e.g. racial justice or climate justice, or want resources to act more broadly, grounding action in spiritual practice enables participants to sustain their activism with joy, hope, and resilience. This enables our community to be both grounded in our sacred connection and more wholly sustained, effective, and successful in our collective efforts toward repair and justice.