The Mussar Movement
History Series / Part 3

The mussar movement was the sworn enemy of the haskalah and because the battle between these two forces occurred at the dawning of the media age, it became a propaganda war in the Jewish newspapers. Opposition to mussar only intensified after the death of its founder Rabbi Yisroel Salanter so that his successor Reb Itzeleh Peterberger (Rabbi Yitzchok Blazer) faced criticism from both outside and within Orthodox Jewry. Rabbi Wein details the achievements of the great rabbis at the helm of the mussar movement and their phenomenal success in combating assimilation.

• Jewish respect for newspapers, whether deserved or not
• the Kovno kollel, the Slobodka yeshiva and their rivalry
• the strange phenomenon of communism within the yeshivas • why the haskala couldn't touch the mussar movement

For more details about the mussar movement's struggle for acceptance amongst the rabbinate, listen to "Jewish Brothers In Conflict." To learn about the books that are the foundations of the mussar movement, listen to "Essential Classics: Books that Have Made a Difference."