[1][2][3] The Hebrew term Musar (מוּסַר) is adopted from the Book of Proverbs (1:2) describing moral conduct, instruction or discipline, educating oneself on how one should act in an appropriate manner.
In this period of history, anti-Semitism, assimilation, and the impoverished living conditions of many Jews in the Pale of Settlement caused severe tension and disappointment.
Widely recognized as a rabbi of exceptional talent, Yisrael Salanter 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, in which he emphasized moral teachings based on the ethics taught in traditional Jewish rabbinic works, especially Musar literature.
In seeking to encourage the study of Musar literature, Salanter had three works of Musar literature republished in Vilna: Mesillat Yesharim by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh by Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Cheshbon Ha-Nefesh by Menachem Mendel Lefin.
In Salanter's essay, the concept of conscious ("outerness" [chitzoniut]) and subconscious ("innerness" [penimiut]) processes and the role they play in the psychological, emotional and moral functioning of man is developed.
Salanter stresses that when a person is in the middle of 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.
[11] Simcha Zissel also wrote discourses that deeply engaged questions of moral virtue and gave particular attention to the importance of love for others.
In the following generation, leaders of the Musar movement included Zissel's student Nosson Tzvi Finkel of Slabodka, and Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz of Novaradok.
Many opposed the new educational system that Yisrael Salanter set up, and others charged that deviations from traditional methods would lead to assimilation as expected in classical German Reform Judaism.
According to the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, they argued that while the study of moral texts was venerable if distinctly limited element of Torah study, the sainted Salanter himself surely had had no intention of overturning traditional priorities and certainly not of creating a new sect that was itself contributing to that collapse of traditional Jewish life which it claimed to combat.
This set in motion a wave of similar declarations, counterdeclarations, and polemics for and against Musar in the Hebrew press which reverberated throughout traditional circles.
Eventually a sort of equilibrium emerged, with Musar remaining a feature of many yeshivas and its most heartfelt advocates and opponents finding for themselves distinct but congenial venues.
At the start of the 21st century, a significant revival of interest in the Musar movement has occurred in North America in various sectors of the Jewish world.
Orthodox rabbis Yechiel Yitzchok Perr, Hillel Goldberg, Elyakim Krumbein, Avi Fertig, David Jaffe and Micha Berger have published English books about various aspects of Musar.
The founders of both The Mussar Institute and the AishDas Society found much of their inspiration in Rabbi Hillel Goldberg's English work, The Fire Within: A Living Heritage of the Musar (1987).
Dr. Alan Morinis, founder of The Mussar Institute, writes "it was the introduction to my spiritual lineage....it holds a special place (for me)[17]."
Micha Berger notes it was the book "which inspired me to explore musar," a topic which had already been central to his life as founder of the AishDas Society.
[4] Geoffrey Claussen of Elon University has argued that the Musar movement's conception of Jewish practice may be especially valuable for Conservative Judaism.
The website of the Mussar Institute said: The Orthodox Jewish community spawned Musar to help people overcome the inner obstacles that hinder them from living up to the laws and commandments—the mitzvot—that form the code of life.