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Lively exploration of a Jewish spiritual and ethical tradition.
Often simplistically referred to as simply Jewish ethics, Mussar is better understood in Boettiger’s hands as an orbiting around the great questions of what it means to be a human being—especially in regard to how we understand our obligations to one another. Weaving in traditional rabbinic commentary, modern poetry, and compelling stories from his own life, Boettiger takes us on a historical journey from the origins of the early Mussar Movement all the way to a contemporary relational practice that is countercultural in its focus on breaking the spell of self-absorption and helping us arrive more deeply into this life.
“A beautifully written book. To Imagine Other Solitudes is an evocative discussion of the Mussar approach to Jewish ethical relations. Joshua Boettiger provides us with a living sense of this tradition of thought and practice. He has a rare capacity to articulate, lucidly and wittily, the deeper implications of minor gestures.’ Interweaving poetry, philosophy and personal anecdote, he invites the reader to a new imaginative awareness of the responsibilities of our lives with others.” —Avivah Zornberg, author of The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious and Moses: A Human Life
“To Imagine Other Solitudes is a soulful addition to the growing library of contemporary Mussar works. Rabbi Boettiger does a masterful job of introducing the tradition with all its strengths and weaknesses and showing a path forward, for our times, into the messy but essential task of discovering the true self in its awesome relation to the other. He writes personally, wisely, and with heart-breaking and disarming honesty.” —Norman Fischer, Soto Zen priest, author of When You Greet Me I Bow
Joshua Boettiger is Rosh Yeshiva (Head of School) at the Center for Contemporary Mussar, and Jewish chaplain and visiting assistant professor of the humanities at Bard College. He was a finalist for the American Poetry Review’s Gerald Stern Prize (2025) and his poetry has appeared in many journals. His essays have appeared in Parabola, Evolve, and Zeek. Boettiger also teaches at Ritualwell, and often serves as a scholar-in-residence and leads Jewish meditation retreats. He has an MFA in poetry and a masters in Hebrew Letters/rabbinic ordination. He lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.