Musar literature is

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

ethical

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

which describes virtues and vices and the path towards character improvement. This literature gives the name to the Musar movement, in 19th century Lithuania, but this article considers such literature more broadly.

Definition

Musar literature is often described as "ethical literature." Professor Geoffrey Claussen describes it as "Jewish literature that discusses virtue and character." Professors

Isaiah Tishby Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite Biblical prophet, prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah ...

and Joseph Dan have described it as "prose literature that presents to a wide public views, ideas, and ways of life in order to shape the everyday behavior, thought, and beliefs of this public." Musar literature traditionally depicts the nature of moral and spiritual perfection in a methodical way. It is "divided according to the component parts of the ideal righteous way of life; the material is treated methodically – analyzing, explaining, and demonstrating how to achieve each moral virtue (usually treated in a separate chapter or section) in the author's ethical system."Joseph Dan, "Ethical Literature" ''Encyclopaedia Judaica,'' ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed., vol. 6. Musar literature can be distinguished from other forms of Jewish ethical literature such as

aggadic Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...

narrative and halakhic literature.

Early Musar literature

Ethical monotheism originated in early Judaism, and along with it came the highly didactic ethics in the Torah and later works. Mishlei is commonly regarded as a musar classic in its own right and is arguably the first true ''sefer musar''. In fact, the Hebrew word ''musar'' (, 'discipline'), being the eponymous name for the literature, stems from the term's extensive use in the biblical book. An example from the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Golden Rule The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethics of reciprocity, meaning that one should reciprocate to others how one would like them to treat the person (not neces ...

": Gunther Plaut, ''The Torah — A Modern Commentary''; Union of American Hebrew Congregations, New York 1981; pp.892.

Hillel the Elder Hillel ( ''Hīllēl''; variously called Hillel the Elder or Hillel the Babylonian; died c. 10 CE) was a Jewish religious leader, Sage (philosophy), sage and scholar associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and the founder of ...

(c. 110 BCE – 10 CE) taught the verse as the most important of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. Once, he was challenged by a ''

ger toshav ''Ger toshav'' (, ''ger'': "foreigner" or "alien" + ''toshav'': "resident", lit. "Alien (law), resident alien") is a Halakha, halakhic term used in Judaism to designate the legal status of a Gentile#Judaism, Gentile (non-Jew) living in the La ...

'' who asked to be converted under the condition that the Torah be explained to him while he stood on one foot. Hillel accepted him as a candidate for conversion to Judaism, but, drawing on , briefed the man: ''

Pirkei Avot Pirkei Avot (; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth'', also ''Abhoth''), which translates into English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewis ...

'' is a compilation of

Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...

and related teachings the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period and part of

ethical musar literature. Because of its contents, it is also called Ethics of the Fathers. The teachings of ''Pirkei Avot'' appear in the Mishnaic tractate ''Avot'', the second-to-last tractate in the order of '' Nezikin'' in the Mishnah. ''Pirkei Avot'' is unique in that it is the only tractate of the Mishnah dealing solely with ethical and moral principles; there is little ''

halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

'' found in ''Pirkei Avot''.

Medieval Musar literature

Medieval works of Musar literature were composed by a range of rabbis and others, including rationalist philosophers and adherents of Kabbalistic mysticism. Joseph Dan has argued that medieval Musar literature reflects four different approaches: the philosophical approach; the standard rabbinic approaches; the approach of Chassidei Ashkenaz; and the Kabbalistic approach.

Philosophical Musar literature

Philosophical works of Musar include: * '' Chovot ha-Levavot'' by Bahya ibn Paquda
''Hilchot Deot''
in ''Sefer ha-Madah'' of Mishneh Torah by

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

* ''Sefer Hayashar'' (the ethical work, not to be confused with the many other unrelated works of the same name), published anonymously * ''Shemona Perakim'' ("The Eight Chapters"):, the introduction to

' commentary to the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

Standard Rabbinic Musar literature

Rabbinic Musar literature came as a reaction to philosophical literature, and tried to show that the Torah and standard

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...

taught about the nature of virtue and vice without recourse to Aristotelian or other philosophical concepts. Classic works of this sort include * '' Ma'alot ha-Middot'' by Rabbi Yehiel ben Yekutiel Anav of Rome * ''Shaarei Teshuvah'' (The Gates of Repentance) by Rabbi Yonah Gerondi * ''Menorat ha-Ma'or'' by Israel Al-Nakawa b. Joseph of Toledo * ''Menorat ha-Ma'or'' by Isaac Aboab * '' Orchot Tzaddikim'' (''The Ways of the Righteous''), by an anonymous author * ''Meneket Rivkah'' by Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner Similar works were produced by rabbis who were Kabbalists but whose Musar writings did not bear a kabbalistic character:

Nahmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...

' ''Sha'ar ha-Gemul,'' which focuses on various categories of just and wicked people and their punishments in the world to come; and Rabbi Bahya ben Asher's '' Kad ha-Kemah.''

Medieval Ashkenazi-Hasidic Musar literature

Chassidei Ashkenaz (literally "the Pious of Germany") was a Jewish movement in the 12th century and 13th century founded by Rabbi Judah the Pious (Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid) of

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, Germany, which was concerned with promoting Jewish piety and morality. The most famous work of Musar literature produced by this school was ''The Book of the Pious'' ( Sefer Hasidim).

Medieval Kabbalistic Musar literature

Explicitly Kabbalistic mystical works of Musar literature include '' Tomer Devorah'' (''The Palm Tree of Deborah'') by Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, '' Reshit Chochmah'' by Eliyahu de Vidas, and '' Kav ha-Yashar'' by Tzvi Hirsch Kaidanover.

Modern Musar literature

Literature in the genre of Musar literature continued to be written by modern Jews from a variety of backgrounds.

''Mesillat Yesharim''

Mesillat Yesharim is a Musar text published in Amsterdam by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in the 18th century. It is perhaps the most important work of Musar literature of the post-medieval period. The Vilna Gaon commented that he could not find a superfluous word in the first seven chapters of the work and stated that he would have traveled to meet the author and learn from his ways if he'd still been alive.

Ottoman Musar literature

According to Julia Phillips Cohen, summarizing the work of Matthias B. Lehmann on Musar literature in Ottoman

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

society:

Beginning in the eighteenth century, a number of Ottoman rabbis had undertaken the task of fighting the ignorance they believed was plaguing their communities by producing works of Jewish ethics (''musar'') in Judeo-Spanish (also known as Ladino). This development was inspired in part by a particular strain within
Jewish mysticism Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbal ...
( Lurianic
Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
) which suggested that every Jew would necessarily play a role in the mending of the world required for redemption. The spread of ignorance among their coreligionists thus threatened to undo the proper order of things. It was with this in mind that these Ottoman rabbis--all capable of publishing in the more highly esteemed
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
language of their religious tradition--chose to write in their vernacular instead. While they democratized rabbinic knowledge by translating it for the masses, these "vernacular rabbis" (to use Matthias Lehmann's term) also attempted to instill in their audiences the sense that their texts required the mediation of individuals with religious training. Thus, they explained that common people should gather together to read their books in ''meldados'', or study sessions, always with the guidance of someone trained in the study of Jewish law.

Among the most popular works of Musar literature produced in Ottoman society was Elijah ha-Kohen's ''Shevet Musar,'' first published in Ladino in 1748. '' Pele Yoetz'' by Rabbi Eliezer Papo (1785–1826) was another exemplary work of this genre.

Haskalah Musar literature

In Europe, leaders of the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...

made significant contributions to Musar literature. Naphtali Hirz Wessely wrote a Musar text titled ''Sefer Ha-Middot'' (Book of Virtues) in approximately 1786. Menachem Mendel Lefin of Satanov wrote a text titled ''Cheshbon Ha-Nefesh'' (Moral Accounting) in 1809, based in part on the ethical program described in the autobiography of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

Hasidic Musar literature

One form of literature in the Hasidic movement was tracts collecting and instructing mystical-ethical practices. These include Tzavaat HaRivash ("Testament of Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem") and Tzetl Koton by Elimelech of Lizhensk, a seventeen-point program on how to be a good Jew. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's Sefer ha-Middot is a Hasidic classic of Musar literature.

Mitnagdic and Yeshivish Musar literature

The "Musar letter" of the Vilna Gaon, an ethical will by an opponent of the Hasidic movement, is regarded by some as a classic of Musar literature. Many of the writings of Yisrael Meir Kagan have also been described as Musar literature.

Literature by the Musar movement

The modern Musar movement, beginning in the 19th century, encouraged the organized study of medieval Musar literature to an unprecedented degree while producing its own Musar literature. Significant Musar writings were made by leaders of the movement, such as Rabbis Israel Salanter, Simcha Zissel Ziv, Yosef Yozel Horwitz, and Eliyahu Dessler. The movement established musar learning as a regular part of the curriculum in the Lithuanian

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

world, acting as a bulwark against contemporary forces of secularism.

Musar literature by Reform rabbis

Musar literature has been composed by Reform rabbis including Ruth Abusch-Magder, noted for her writing on humility, and Karyn Kedar, noted for her writing on forgiveness.

Musar literature by Conservative rabbis

Musar literature has been composed by Conservative rabbis, including Amy Eilberg (noted for her writing on curiosity and courage) and Danya Ruttenberg (noted for her writing on curiosity).

Musar literature by Reconstructionist rabbis

Musar literature has been composed by Reconstructionist rabbis, including Susan Schnur (noted for her writing on forgiveness), Sandra Lawson (noted for her writing on curiosity), Rebecca Alpert (noted for her writing on humility), and Mordecai Kaplan (noted for his writing on humility). Schnur's writinga show how gender matters in discussion of forgiveness as a virtue.

References

External links

Musar and Jewish Ethics pdf
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Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

Student Magazine''
Duties of the Heart - free english translation
* Benjamin Brown
From Principles to Rules and from Musar to Halakhah - The Hafetz Hayims Rulings on Libel and Gossip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musar Literature Jewish literature Jewish ethics Musar movement