Mussar movement

The Mussar Movement was a Jewish Orthodox movement since the 19th century. It originated in Lithuania as a reaction to a feared disintegration of Jewish culture through assimilation, Haskala , anti-Semitic excesses and Hasidism . Israel Salanter is considered to be its founder .

term

The Hebrew term mussar is used in the Bible in Proverbs 1: 2 and means moral instruction , discipline or obedience .

The Mussar movement was shaped by the Mussar literature , which since the Middle Ages urged moral and ethical Jewish behavior. The goal was disciplined efforts for an ethical and spiritual advancement.

history

The Mussar movement was founded in Vilnius around 1840 by Rabbi Israel Salanter. Schools in Kaunas , Kelme and Telz followed . After Salanter left for Germany in 1857, the movement was led by his students Simcha Sissel Zwi and Jizchak Blaser . Since about 1890 there has been disagreement within the movement and criticism from the Jewish community. From around 1905 the Mussar movement lost its importance

Today, studying the Mussar is part of studying the Orthodox yeshivot .

literature

• Lester Eckman: The history of the Musar Movement 1840-1945 ( Schreiber Publishing, 1975), ISBN 978-0884000419 .
• Immanuel Etkes, Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement (Jewish Publication Society, 1993).
• Menachem G. Glenn, Rabbi Israel Salanter: Religious-Ethical Thinker (Dropsie College, 1953).
• Hillel Goldberg, Israel Salanter, Text, Structure, Idea: The Ethics and Theology of an Early Psychologist of the Unconscious (KTAV, 1982).
• Geoffrey Claussen, Sharing the Burden: Rabbi Simhah Zissel Ziv and the Path of Musar (SUNY Press, 2015).
• Dov Katz, The Mussar Movement.