Rav Yisroel Salanter ZTL

Rabbi Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Rav Yisrael Salanter,"  was a famous Rosh yeshiva and expert Talmudist who founded the Mussar movement. The epithet Salanter was added to his name since most of his schooling took place in Salant. He was born in Zhagory, Lithuania, on November 3, 1809, and received his early education from Rabbis in Salant. His mentor, Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant, deeply influenced him, teaching the importance of religious self-improvement (mussar). In his adult years, Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin established Yeshivas in Vilna, Zarechya, and Kovno and published a Hebrew journal dedicated to Rabbinical law and religious ethics. He was known for his strong moral character and always strictly adhered to Halacha. Rabbi Lipkin also had an outreach philosophy and was one of the first major East European Rabbis to move to Western Europe. He is considered the father of the Musar movement, which focuses on ethical and spiritual development through disciplined efforts. Rabbi Salanter revolutionized the study of musar (ethics) in 19th-century Europe by establishing "houses of mussar" where people could learn ethical teachings through emotion and repetition. He stressed that interpersonal mitzvot requires the same devotion as ritual mitzvot, pioneering the focus on character development. Rabbi Salanter recognized the roles of the conscious and subconscious mind decades before Freud, teaching people to internalize ethics through emotional study and overcome improper impulses. A famous encounter with a late-night shoemaker inspired his teaching: "As long as the candle is burning, it is still possible to repair."  Lipkin believed that accomplishment in spiritual growth is not limited to rabbinic figures but is also the realm of the ordinary layman. Therefore, his closest disciples included leading rabbis of the next generation and laypeople who would come to exert a tremendous positive influence on their brethren's physical and spiritual lot. Through innovative educational approaches and emphasis on ritual and ethics, Rabbi Salanter established mussar as central to personal and communal betterment within the Orthodox world. Many of his articles from the journal "Tevunah" were collected and published in Imrei Binah (1878). His Iggeres HaMusar ("Ethical Letter") was first published in 1858 and then repeatedly afterward. Many of his letters were published in Ohr Yisrael ("The Light of Israel") in 1890 (edited by Yitzchak Blazer). His disciples collected many of his discourses and published them in Even Yisrael (1853) and Etz Peri (1881).