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Mussar Movement

The term Hebrew term mussar, while literally derived from a word meaning "tradition," usually refers to Jewish ethics in general, or (and more commonly) refers to the Jewish ethics education movement that developed in the 19th century Orthodox Jewish European community.

Table of contents

1 Founders of the Mussar movement

2 Early works of Mussar

3 Origin of the movement

4 Ethical sources for the Mussar movement

5 Classical Jewish ethical literature

6 Bibliography

Founders of the Mussar movement This movement arose among the non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews of Lithuania, and became a trend in Orthodox yeshivot (schools of Jewish learning). This movement was inspired by the teachings of a Jewish layperson, Joseph Sundel Ben Benjamin Benish Alant (1786-1866). He was a student of Rabbis Hayyim Volozhiner and Akiva Eger; he spent most of his life in Salant[?], Lithuania. In 1937, after moving to the British Mandate of Palestine, he eventually received rabbinic ordination in Jerusalem.

Alant greatly influenced his student Rabbi Israel ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, the Salanter[?] (1810-1883), who eventually became founder of the Mussar movement. After establishing himself as a rabbi of exceptional talent early on, Rabbi Israel Lipkin soon became head of a yeshivah in Vilna, where he quickly became well known in the community for his scholarship. He soon resigned this post to open up his own Yeshiva, where he emphasized moral teachings based on the ethics taught traditional Jewish rabbinic works. He referred to his philosophy as mussar, Hebrew for ethics.

Despite the prohibition against doing work on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) Lipkin set an example of the Lithuanian Jewish community during the cholera epidemic of 1848. He made certain that any necessary relief work on Shabbat for Jews was done by Jews; some wanted such work to be done on Shabbat by non-Jews, but Lipkin held that both Jewish ethics and law mandated that the laws of the Sabbath must be put aside in order to save lives. During Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) Lipkin ordered that Jews must not abide by the traditional fast, but instead must eat in order to maintain their health; again this was done for emergency health reasons. By 1850 he left Vilna for Kovno[?] where he founded a yeshiva based on Mussar, with a student body of 150.

In 1857 he moved to Germany, and by 1860 he began publication of a periodical entitled Tevunah dedicated to mussar. By 1877 he founded a Kollel (adult-ed center of Jewish study) in Kovno. By this time his own students had begun to set up their own yeshivot in Volozhin, Kelme, Telz, and Slobodka.

Early works of Mussar Many of his articles from Tevunah were collected and published in lmrei Binah (1878). His Iggeret ha-Mussar ("ethical letter") was first published in 1858 and then repeatedly thereafter. Many of his letters were published in Or Yisrael, "The Light of Israel", in 1990 (Edited by Isaac Blaser.) Many of his discourses were published in Even Yisrael (1883).

Origin of the movement This movement began among non-Hasidic Jews as a response to the social changes brought about by The Enlightenment, and the corresponding Haskalah movement among many European Jews. In this period of history anti-Semitism, assimilation of many Jews into Christianity, poverty, and the poor living conditions of many Jews in the Pale of Settlement caused severe tension and disappointment. Many of the institutions of Lithuanian Jewry were beginning to break up. Many religious Jews felt that their way of life was slipping away from them, observance of traditional Jewish law and custom was on the decline, and what they felt was worst of all, may of those who remained the loyal to tradition were losing their emotional connection to the tradition's inner meaning and ethical core.

During this time the Rabbi Lipkin wrote "The busy man does evil wherever he turns. His business doing badly, his mind and strength become confounded and subject to the fetters of care and confusion. Therefore appoint a time on the Holy Sabbath to gather together at a fixed hour... the notables of the city, whom many will follow, for the study of morals. Speak quietly and deliberately without joking or irony, estimate the good traits of man and his faults, how he should be castigated to turn away from the latter and strengthen the former. Do not decide matters at a single glance, divide the good work among you-not taking up much time, not putting on too heavy a burden. Little by little, much will be gathered... In the quiet of reflection, in reasonable deliberation, each will strengthen his fellow and cure the foolishness of his heart and eliminate his lazy habits."

In later years some opposition to the Mussar Movement developed in large segments of the Orthodox community. Many opposed the new educational system that Lipkin set up, and others charged that deviations from traditional methods would lead to assimilation no less surely than the path of classic German Reform Judaism. However, by the end of the 19th century most opposition to Mussar withered away, and it was accepted within much of Orthodoxy.

Ethical sources for the Mussar movement The teaching of Jewish ethics was based in a primary sense in the ethical teachings of the Torah and the books of the Prophets of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), and was directly based on books written by authors such as Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, and even the Enlightenment thinker Naphtali Hirz Wessely.

Classical Jewish ethical literature The classical rabbinic Jewish works of ethics and moral instruction, still studied today, include:

Hovot ha-Levavot, by Bahya ibn Paquda (11th century). This work discusses ten moral virtues, each the subject of its own chapter.
Ma'alot ha-Middot, Yehiel ben Yekutiel Anav of Rome. This work discusses 24 moral virtues,
Kad ha-Kemah, Bahya ben Asher, a Spanish kabbalist.
Mesillat Yesharim, Moses Chaim Luzzato

Musar website from Kehillas Tzemach Dovid (http://www.tzemachdovid.org/Musar/index.shtml)