Most mussar sefarim are very oriented towards men, with lessons on things such as how to treat your wife, the dangers of pursuing women, or the importance of learning. Also, many sefarim I've seen written for women are very generic and watered down hashkafa sefarim, lacking originality or deep insight. What is a good, intelligent, well-written mussar sefer with female perspective?
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3AFAICT ibn Pequda's Chovot HalLevavot isn't genderized, but, although it's sold in the "mussar" section of bookstores, it's more of a philosophical work IMO.– Baal Shemot TovotCommented Mar 25, 2012 at 15:06
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tziporahheller.com Rebbetzen Heller has online classes in Chovot HaLevavot and has written several english language books that might interest you.– Avrohom YitzchokCommented Mar 25, 2012 at 15:50
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2judaism.stackexchange.com/a/14831/759– Double AA ♦Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 17:34
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1@DoubleAA I don't disagree, but that's hardly written from a female perspective ;)– Yaakov KupermanCommented Mar 30, 2012 at 3:43
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1@DoubleAA , I never said women anything about whether women could/should learn Gemara, I said it's not written from a female perspective.– Yaakov KupermanCommented Apr 1, 2012 at 15:04
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5 Answers
My wife speaks extremely highly of Chochmat Nashim by R' Shalom Arush shlita, which is translated in to English by R' Lazer Brody shlita. It focuses on marriage and married life, but covers the full spectrum of a woman's role and responsibilities.
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The book is called "Women's Wisdom" in English. I came here to recommend the sefer because I have heard from several ladies that it is good, but you already put it here...a long time ago.– ezraCommented Jan 30, 2017 at 23:10
For English readers there is one from Rabbi Shimshon Pincus who wrote a Mussar Sefer for woman called Nefesh Chaya.
For Hebrew readers there is a Sefer Chukei HaNoshim written by the Ben Ish Chai which is a Mussar Sefer geared specifically to women.
For Yiddish readers there is a Sefer Mainekes Rivka which was written by Rivka Tiktiner in in the late 16th century. This is available by contacting [email protected]
answered Mar 27, 2012 at 16:34
Chovos Halevavos. There's a new digital translation in the making, available online at http://dafyomireview.com/article.php?docid=384
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ray, thanks for the suggestion, and welcome to Mi Yodeya. I hope you stick around and enjoy the site. Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.– msh210 ♦Commented Aug 20, 2012 at 6:07
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(An anonymous user suggested seeing shaar bitachon there. I have not seen it inside, so I can't vouch for it, and with no other information provided I'm deleting it from the answer and moving it to a comment.)– Seth JCommented Aug 30, 2012 at 13:37
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it looks good to me (shaar bitachon). also has some excerpts from the classic commentators on the book– rayCommented Jan 25, 2013 at 6:00
Outside of the Ashkenazi world, Chakham Yosef Chayyim (the Ben Ish Chai) wrote a beautiful personal growth manual for women, and one that is often studied by men as well. He wrote it in Judeo-Arabic, and called it Qânûn-un-Nisâ'. It has since been translated into Hebrew, as חוקי הנשים, and into English, as Laws For Women. The English translation has been done by Rabbi Moshe Schapiro.
Meneket Rivkah was written in Yiddish by a woman, Rivka Bat Meir Tiktiner, in the 1500s and likewise translated by a woman into English in the 2009, more info here: https://www.mussar.center/books/classic#h.dy0hg7ld91ok
Some believe Orchot Tzadikim was written by a woman: https://www.mussar.center/books/popular#h.zdiv4xhkinh9
There are several Mussar books written by women in this list of modern Mussar works too: https://www.mussar.center/books/modern
I hope this helps!
