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{{short description|Lithuanian Jewish rabbi (1809–1883); father of the Musar movement}}
 
{{Cleanup bare URLs|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| honorific-prefix = Rabbi
| name = Yisrael Lipkin Salanter
| image = Israël de Salant.jpg
| caption = Rabbi Yisrael Salanter
| birth_date = November 3, 1809
| birth_place = Zhagory, Lithuania
| death_date = February 2, 1883
| death_place = Königsberg, Germany
| nationality = Lithuanian
| occupation = Rabbi, Rosh yeshiva
| known_for = Founder of the Musar movement
| title =
| post =
| education =
| works = ''Imrei Binah'', ''Iggeres HaMusar'', ''Ohr Yisrael'', ''Even Yisrael'', ''Etz Peri''
}}▼
 
'''Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin''', also known as "'''Israel Salanter'''" or "'''Yisroel Salanter'''" (November 3, 1809, [[Zhagory]] – February 2, 1883, [[Königsberg]]), was the father of the [[Musar movement]] in [[Orthodox Judaism]] and a famed [[Rosh yeshiva]] and [[Talmud]]ist. The epithet ''Salanter'' was added to his name since most of his schooling took place in Salant (now the Lithuanian town of [[Salantai]]), where he came under the influence of [[Rabbi]] [[Yosef Zundel of Salant]]. He was the father of mathematician [[Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin]].<ref name=Levine>{{cite web |author=L. Levine
|title=Israel Salanter, Revolutionary Rabbi Par Excellence
Line 8 ⟶ 26:
Yisroel Lipkin was born in [[Zagare]], Lithuania on November 3, 1809, the son of Zev Wolf, the [[rabbi]] of that town and later [[Av Beth Din]] of [[Kuldīga|Goldingen]] and [[Telšiai|Telz]], and his wife Leah. As a boy, he studied with Rabbi [[Zvi Hirsh Broide|Tzvi Hirsh Braude]] of [[Salantai|Salant]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality
|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0190608382 |isbn=978-0190608385 |date=2016
|author1=Elliot N. Dorff |author2=Jonathan K. Crane| publisher=Oxford University Press }} "Born in Zhagory, Lithuania, in 1810, Lipkin studied as a youth with Tzvi Hirsh Braude of Salant, and under Yosef Zundel of Salant."</ref>
 
After his 1823 marriage to Esther Fega Eisenstein, daughterLipkin ofsettled Yentawith andher Yaakovin HaLeviSalant Eisensteinwhere he continued his studies under Hirsch Broda<ref name=Levine/>{{cite weband Zundel, himself a disciple of [[Chaim Volozhin]].
|title=Esther Lipkin |url=https://www.myheritage.com/names/esther_lipkin}}</ref> (died August 1871, Vilnius),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Esther-Fiege-Eisenstein/6000000000643746546|title=Esther Fiege Eisenstein|website=geni_family_tree}}</ref> Lipkin settled with her in Salant. There he continued his studies under Hirsch Broda<ref name=Levine/> and Zundel, himself a disciple of [[Chaim Volozhin]]. Zundel exerted a deep influence on the development of Lipkin's character; he had stressed religious self-improvement ([[musar movement|musar]]), which Lipkin later developed into a complete method and popularized.
 
Around 1833 he met the decade-younger [[Alexander Moshe Lapidos]], who became his lifelong student and friend.<ref>Pupil/colleague, a combination with Talmudic/historic basis.</ref><ref>Alt. 1829. Reason on dates is because what is known is R'Alexander Moshe was age 14, but two birth-years have been cited.</ref><ref name=Yar>{{cite news |newspaper=Hamodia |date=March 7, 2017
|title=This day in History |url=https://hamodia.com/columns/day-history-10-adarmarch-8}}</ref>
 
He was a tremendous [[Torah]] scholar. Around 1842, Lipkin was appointed [[rosh yeshiva]] (dean) of Meile's [[yeshiva]] (''Tomchai Torah'') in [[Vilnius|Vilna]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ohr Yisroel, Rabbi Salanter - Part 1
|url=https://torah.org/learning/spiritual-excellence-classes-salanter1
|date=March 1, 2013}} "R'Salanter was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Tomchai Torah in Vilna about 1842..."</ref> When a minor scandal{{explain|date=August 2023}} arose related to his appointment, he left the post to its previous inhabitant and moved to Zarechya[[Užupis|Zaretcha]], an exurb of Vilna. While there, heand established a new yeshiva, where he lectured for about three years.
 
DespiteJewish thelaw prohibition againstprohibits doing certain categories of work on [[Shabbat]] (the Jewish Sabbath), Lipkinexcept setin anlife-threatening exampleemergencies. for the Lithuanian Jewish community duringDuring the [[cholera]] epidemic of 1848. HeLipkin ensured that any necessary relief work on Shabbat for Jews was done by Jews. Although some wanted such work to be done on Shabbat by [[Shabbat goy|non-Jews]], Lipkin heldsaid that both Jewish ethics and law mandatedmandate that the obligation to save lives tooktakes priority over other laws. During [[Yom Kippur]] (the Day of Atonement), Lipkin ordered that Jews that year must not abide by the traditional fast, but instead must eat in order to maintain their health, again for emergency health reasons.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Hillel|title=The Fire Within|publisher=Artscroll/Mesorah|year=1987}}</ref><ref>Immanuel Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 170-172</ref> Some claim that, to allay any doubts, he himself went up to the synagogue pulpit on that holy day, recited the Kiddush prayer, drank and ate - as a public example for others to do the same.▼
At Lipkin's suggestion, the [[Musar Literature|Musar writings]] of [[Moshe Chaim Luzzatto]], [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]], and [[Menachem Mendel Lefin]] were reprinted and popularized in Vilna. He began to be known as Rabbi Salanter.
 
▲Despite the prohibition against doing work on [[Shabbat]] (the Jewish Sabbath), Lipkin set an example for the Lithuanian Jewish community during the [[cholera]] epidemic of 1848. He ensured that any necessary relief work on Shabbat for Jews was done by Jews. Although some wanted such work to be done on Shabbat by [[Shabbat goy|non-Jews]], Lipkin held that both Jewish ethics and law mandated that the obligation to save lives took priority over other laws. During [[Yom Kippur]] (the Day of Atonement), Lipkin ordered that Jews that year must not abide by the traditional fast, but instead must eat in order to maintain their health, again for emergency health reasons.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Hillel|title=The Fire Within|publisher=Artscroll/Mesorah|year=1987}}</ref><ref>Immanuel Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 170-172</ref> Some claim that, to allay any doubts, he himself went up to the synagogue pulpit on that holy day, recited the Kiddush prayer, drank and ate - as a public example for others to do the same.
 
In 1848, the Czarist government created the [[Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary]]. Lipkin was identified as a candidate to teach at or run the school. As he feared that the school would be used to produce rabbinical "puppets" of the government, he refused the position and left Vilna.<ref>Immanuel Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 177</ref> Salanter moved to [[Kovno]], where he established a Musar-focused yeshiva at the [[Nevyozer Kloiz]].<ref>Immanuel Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 213-215, 229-238</ref>
 
He retained charge untilIn 1857, when he left Lithuanialithuania and moved to [[Prussia]] to recover from [[Depression (mood)|depression]]prussia.<ref>Immanuel Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Musar Movement'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 250-251</ref> He remained in the house of philanthropists, the Hirsch brothers of [[Halberstadt]], until his health improved. In 1861 he started publication of the Hebrew journal ''Tevunah'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/44040|title=HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: תבונה - א -- ליפקין, ישראל בן זאב וולף, 1810-1883|website=www.hebrewbooks.org}}</ref> devoted to rabbinical law and religious ethics. After three months the journal had failed to garner enough subscriptions to cover its costs, so he closed it.
 
Lipkin lived for periods in [[Klaipėda|Memel]], Königsberg and Berlin. He devoted the last decades of his life to strengthening Orthodox Jewish life in Germany and Prussia. He also played a large role in thwarting an attempt to open a rabbinic seminary in Russia. Toward the end of his life, Lipkin was calledwent to Paris to organize a community among the many Russian Jewish immigrants, and he remained there for two years.
 
Lipkin is known aswas one of the first people to try to translate the [[Talmud]] into another language. However, he died before he could finish this immense project. Lipkin died on Friday, February 2, 1883 (25 Shevat 5643), in Königsberg, then part of Germany. For many years, the exact location of his grave was unknown. Following a lengthy investigation, in 2007 the grave was located in Königsberg.<ref>[http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/salanter/3_13_07_grave.pdf L. Levine, "Rabbi Salanter grave], Stevens University, 13 March 2007</ref><ref>https://goo.gl/maps/CsKpcKWtjxt , Kaliningrad Jewish cemetery, Google maps</ref>
 
He was careful to always comply with the law, even where this was discriminatory against Jews. For example, inIn order to be able to legally travel outside of the [[Pale of Settlement]], he became a master dye-maker. This, enabledenabling him to receive a permit allowing free travel within Russia.<ref name=Levine/><ref>"When he visited Berlin in the early 1870s to seek a cure for his ailing health, this aging man of 63 or so decided that he would not travel home until he had learned a skill that would enable him on his return to Russia to obtain a legal passport"</ref>▼
==Personality and character==
Lipkin was unique and his views were not always in the mainstream.
 
When the Russian Empire established military [[conscription]] of young Jewish men, Lipkin wrote to rabbis and community leaders urging them to obey and make lists of young men for the government while working through political connections in [[St. Petersburg]] to abolish the conscription.
▲He was careful to always comply with the law, even where this was discriminatory against Jews. For example, in order to be able to legally travel outside of the [[Pale of Settlement]], he became a master dye-maker. This enabled him to receive a permit allowing free travel within Russia.<ref name=Levine/><ref>"When he visited Berlin in the early 1870s to seek a cure for his ailing health, this aging man of 63 or so decided that he would not travel home until he had learned a skill that would enable him on his return to Russia to obtain a legal passport"</ref>
 
Lipkin had an outreach philosophy and was the first major East European rabbi to move to Western Europe, where the Orthodox considered religious standards to be lower. He was considered one of the most eminent Orthodox rabbis of the nineteenth century because of his broad Talmudic scholarship, and his deep piety.
 
When the [[Ukase]] was established to require obligatory military service, they collected youths from the Jewish communities. Lipkin wrote to the rabbis and community leaders urging them to keep lists of recruits, so as to leave no pretext for the contention that the Jews shirked such service. At the same time, he fought vigorously through political connections in [[St. Petersburg]] for the nullification of the [[Cantonist]] Decree.<ref>[[Cantonist#Cantonism and ethnic minorities]]</ref> He told his disciples that the day the decree was annulled (26 August 1856) should be declared a [[Jewish holidays|Yom Tov]] (Jewish holiday).
 
==Teachings==
Lipkin iswas recognizedknown as the father of the [[Musar movement]]<ref>{{cite developedweb in| 19thurl= centuryhttps://jewishcurrents.org/february-2-rabbi-israel-salanters-musar-movement Orthodox| Easterntitle=February Europe2: Rabbi Israel Salanter's Musar Movement }}</ref> that developed, particularly among the Lithuanian Jews, in 19th century Orthodox Eastern Europe. The Hebrew term musar (מוּסַר), is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct. The term was used by the Musar movement to refer to disciplined efforts to further ethical and spiritual development. The study of Musar is a part of the study of Jewish ethics.
 
Lipkin is best known for stressing that the inter-personal laws of the [[Torah]] bear as much weight as Divine obligations. According to Lipkin, adhering to the ritual aspects of Judaism without developing one's relationships with others and oneself was an unpardonable parody. There are many anecdotal stories about him that relate to this moral equation, see for example the following references.<ref>{{Cite web| url= https://www.shemayisrael.com/publicat/hazon/tzedaka/The_Importance_of_a_Friendly_Greeting.html|title=The Importance of a Friendly Greeting|website=www.shemayisrael.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url= http://www.jewishamerica.com/ja/timeline/mussar.cfm |title=The Mussar Movement |access-date=2011-06-29 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110527174055/http://www.jewishamerica.com/ja/timeline/mussar.cfm |archive-date=2011-05-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
The concept of the [[subconscious]] appears in the writings of Lipkin well before the concept was popularized by [[Sigmund Freud]]. Already in 1880,<ref name=EtzCon> The first appearance of this concept is in an essay entitled "An Essay on the Topic of Reinforcing those who Learn our Holy [[Torah]]," subsequently published in a collection of essays entitled "Etz Pri" written by a student of Lipkin based on his teacher's notes. {{cite web | url= https://winners-auctions.com/en/node/18086 | title= Etz Pri - Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Vilna 1881. First Edition | date= February 21, 2018 | access-date=May 20, 2019 | quote=40 pages, cardboard binding }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 | bot=InternetArchiveBot | fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the concept of conscious and subconscious processes and the role they play in the psychological, emotional and moral functioning of man are fully developed and elucidated. These concepts are referred to in his works as the "outer" ''[chitzoniut]'' and "inner" ''[penimiut]'' processes, they are also referred to as the "clear" ''[klarer]'' and "dark" ''[dunkler]'' processes. They form a fundamental building block of many of Rabbi Salanter's letters, essays and teachings. He would write that it is critical for a person to recognize what his subconscious motivations ''[negiot]'' are and to work on understanding them.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Hillel|title=Israel Salanter: text, structure idea. An Early Psychologist of the Unconscious|publisher=Ktav|year=1982}}</ref>
|url=https://winners-auctions.com/en/node/18086
|title=Etz Pri - Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Vilna 1881. First Edition
|date=February 21, 2018 |access-date=May 20, 2019
|quote=40 pages, cardboard binding}}</ref> the concept of conscious and subconscious processes and the role they play in the psychological, emotional and moral functioning of man are fully developed and elucidated. These concepts are referred to in his works as the "outer" ''[chitzoniut]'' and "inner" ''[penimiut]'' processes, they are also referred to as the "clear" ''[klarer]'' and "dark" ''[dunkler]'' processes. They form a fundamental building block of many of Rabbi Salanter's letters, essays and teachings. He would write that it is critical for a person to recognize what his subconscious motivations ''[negiot]'' are and to work on understanding them.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Hillel|title=Israel Salanter: text, structure idea. An Early Psychologist of the Unconscious|publisher=Ktav|year=1982}}</ref>
 
Lipkin would teach that the time for a person to work on not allowing improper subconscious impulses to affect him was during times of emotional quiet, when a person is more in control of his thoughts and feelings. He would stress that when a person is experiencing an acute emotional response to an event, he is not necessarily in control of his thoughts and faculties and will not have access to the calming perspectives necessary to allow his conscious mind to intercede.
Line 60 ⟶ 66:
Lipkin felt that people would be embarrassed to study ethical teachings [''limud ha'musar''] in such a way in a normal study-hall [''bet ha'medrash''] and he therefore invented the idea of a "house of ethical teachings" [''bet ha'mussar''] that would be located next to an ordinary study hall and that would be designated for learning ethics in this way.
 
One of the more popular teachings of Lipkin is based on a real life encounter he had with a shoemaker one very late night. It was [[Motza'ei Shabbat]] (Saturday night after Shabbat) and Lipkin was on the way to the [[synagogue]] to recite [[Selichot]]. Suddenly he felt a tear in his shoe, so he looked around town to see if there was a shoemaker still open for business at this late hour. Finally he located a shoemaker sitting in his shop working next to his candle. Lipkin walked in and asked him, "Is it too late now to get my shoes repaired?" The shoemaker replied, "As long as the candle is burning, it is still possible to repair." Upon hearing this, Lipkin ran to the synagogue and preached to the public what he had learned from the shoemaker. In his words, as long as the candle is burning, as long as one is still alive, it is still possible to repair one's soul.<ref>{{cite web |title=אוצר החכמה | url= https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?23406 |website=tablet.otzar.org |access-date=14 July 2024}} ''עבודת המדות (Avodat haMidot)'', Page 12</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=אוצר החכמה | url= https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?600032 |website=tablet.otzar.org |access-date=14 July 2024}} ''עבודת המדות (Avodat haMidot)'', Page 34 </ref><ref>{{cite web |title=אוצר החכמה | url= https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?195802 |website=tablet.otzar.org |access-date=14 July 2024}} ''עבודת המדות (Avodat haMidot)'', Page 27 </ref><ref>{{cite web |title=אוצר החכמה | url= https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?60437 |website=tablet.otzar.org |access-date=14 July 2024}} ''עבודת המדות (Avodat haMidot)'', Page 26 </ref><ref>{{cite web |title=אוצר החכמה | url= https://www.otzar.org/wotzar/Book.aspx?179049 |website=tablet.otzar.org |access-date=14 July 2024}} ''עבודת המדות (Avodat haMidot)'', Page 133 </ref>
 
==Famous disciples==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{JewishEncyclopedia
|article=Lipkin / Israel Lipkin
|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=440&letter=L#1239
| author=[[Herman Rosenthal]] and [[J. G. Lipman]]
▲}}
 
==Bibliography==
Line 95 ⟶ 96:
 
==External links==
* ''Jewish Encyclopedia'': [https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10005-lipkin “Lipkin”] by Herman Rosenthal & Jacob Goodale Lipman (1906). Now in public domain.
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Yisroel Salanter}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040320094100/http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/salanter.htm Biography on www.ou.com]
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