Anatomy of Radical Mussar: The Teaching, Work and Legacy of the Alter of Novardok
14 min read2,893 words
Summary
This text surveys the life and teaching of Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowitz, known as "the Alter of Novardok," who led a radical and original current within the Mussar movement. The source details the Alter's transition from the world of commerce to total devotion to Torah, while presenting the unique educational approach of the Novardok yeshiva, based on the breaking of the character traits, absolute trust in God and abstention from social esteem. The central chapter of the text analyzes his book "Madregat ha-Adam" ("The Level of Man"), which constitutes the ideological basis for strenuous work on the soul, and compares his approach with alternative approaches such as that of Slobodka or of the Chazon Ish. Finally, the article describes the geographical spread of the network throughout Europe and the rehabilitation of the legacy in the Land of Israel after the destruction of the communities in the Holocaust.
The Life of Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowitz and the Course of His Spiritual Development
Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowitz, known as the "Alter of Novardok," was born in the year 5610 (1850) in the town of Plungyan in Lithuania (in some sources his birth is mentioned in the year 5608 in the town of Kurtovyan), to his father, the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Horowitz (or Ziv), who was the town's rabbi.[1, 2, 3, 4] In his youth Rabbi Yosef Yozel showed brilliant, scholarly talents.[2, 4] At the age of eighteen he married a young woman of the town of Shvekshne, but between his betrothal and his marriage his father-in-law died, and the burden of supporting the extended family — including his wife's sisters — fell entirely on his young shoulders.[2, 4] Out of commitment to his family he turned to commerce and often traveled on business to the port city of Klaipėda (Memel).[2, 4] There, in a chance but fateful encounter, he met the founder of the Mussar movement, Rabbi Israel Salanter.[2, 4] To Rabbi Israel's question about what he did, Rabbi Yosef Yozel replied that he had to support his family.[2] Rabbi Israel persuaded him to set most of his time for Torah study and invited him to a mussar lesson, an encounter that captivated his heart and led him to abandon the world of commerce entirely and devote himself to Torah and mussar in the kollel (a yeshiva for married men) that his teacher had established in Kovno.[2, 5] Subsequently he studied and was one of the disciples of Rabbi Avraham Shenker and Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, "the Alter of Kelm."[2, 3, 5]
Out of a desire for complete disconnection from the material world and its temptations, Rabbi Yosef Yozel decreed upon himself extreme asceticism and shut himself in a small house in Slobodka for one year and nine months, without letting anyone enter.[2, 5] This asceticism aroused criticism from "the Alter of Kelm," who discovered his place of residence and rebuked him that in days of spiritual crisis a person must not shut himself away alone but must go out and influence the world.[2, 4, 5] Rabbi Yosef Yozel accepted his teacher's words, returned to the public and began to conduct journeys among various Jewish communities, in which he established study halls combining the study of Gemara and mussar, financed by the benefactor Obadiah Lachmann of Berlin.[2, 5] In the year 5656 (1896) he founded the Novardok yeshiva in the city of Novardok in the Minsk province.[4, 6] The yeshiva began with only ten students, and within a few months numbered about fifty young men.[2, 6] Its moral approach aroused fierce opposition from elements in the city who demanded that the institution be closed and turned to the city's rabbi, the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Michel HaLevi Epstein (author of "Arukh ha-Shulchan"), but he and the city's leaders gave the yeshiva full backing.[2, 6] During its first ten years Rabbi Eliyahu Dov Berkovsky served as mashgiach (spiritual supervisor), and in 1899 the number of students reached two hundred.[6] In 1908, with the death of Rabbi Epstein and a fierce dispute that broke out in the city over the succession to the rabbinical post, the head of the yeshiva transferred two thirds of the young men to the city of Zhetl in order to prevent them from taking part in the political confrontations, and they returned only after the dispute subsided.[2, 6] In 1912 a new two-story building was inaugurated for the yeshiva.[6]
With the outbreak of the First World War, out of fear of the influences of secularization and Haskalah that were widespread under German rule, the yeshiva relocated to Gomel, and additional branches were opened in Bobruisk, Mozyr, Orsha and Rostov-on-Don.[6] In Gomel Rabbi Yosef Yozel studied Kabbalah for two months with the kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv (author of the "Leshem").[5] In 1919 he moved to Kiev to help the many refugees who were streaming into the city under harsh conditions.[2, 5] Following the outbreak of a typhus epidemic in the city, Rabbi Yosef Yozel tended the sick with self-sacrifice, contracted the disease and died on 17 Kislev 5680 (9 December 1919).[5, 6] Later his bones were brought up to Jerusalem and he was interred on Har HaMenuchot.[2, 3, 4] His public and family legacy was perpetuated through his prominent sons-in-law: Rabbi Avraham Yaffen, head of the Novardok yeshiva; Rabbi Refael Alter Shmuelevitz, rabbi of Stutchin (father of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, head of the Mir yeshiva); Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Lubchansky, mashgiach at the Ohel Torah yeshiva in Baranovichi; and Rabbi Reuven Silver (Shlivansky).[3]
After his death, the network continued to operate under Soviet rule, while suffering harsh persecution from the "Yevsektsiya."[5, 6] The head of the yeshiva in Gomel and ten young men were arrested and sent to forced labor, which led to a bold decision in 1921 to smuggle all the students of the network across the Polish border in the midst of the Polish-Soviet War.[6] Rabbi Avraham Yaffen traveled to Kiev despite the dangers of the roads in order to strengthen the students, and in Kislev 5681 a first gathering was held in Gomel without the "Alter," at which Rabbi Avraham took upon himself the spiritual leadership of the movement, which enjoyed an immense spread in Poland and in the Land of Israel.[5, 6]
The Ideological Vision: "Establishing Whole Jews" and the Solution to the Spiritual Crisis
The central idea of Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowitz was based on the aspiration to establish Jews who are whole in spirit and in soul, who know the laws of the Creator and His Torah, upright of heart, seeking the "true point" in all their deeds.[5] They must be heroes of spirit, strong of soul and valiant of will, whom no storm wind in the world can move from their place.[5] Rabbi Yosef Yozel identified that in the past the world and the yeshiva had complemented one another, but over time a deep abyss opened between the sacred and the profane, and the holy fire and enthusiasm cooled even within the yeshivas themselves.[5]
The solution that Novardok proposed to this crisis was to raise the glory of the yeshivas and restore their power to ancient days, as it was in the golden age of the Babylonian exile at Sura and Pumbedita.[5] The way to achieve this goal demanded total devotion of the yeshiva students to the study of the Torah and its commandments, while adopting paths of mussar that encompass all areas of life, out of an aspiration to create a special world of Torah from which the entire world would be built and influenced.[5] At the basis of this conception stood the negation of the natural human intellect; Rabbi Yosef Yozel held that a person's intellect serves as a tool for distancing him from true self-work by means of excuses and personal vested interests, and therefore a person must subdue his intellect in every possible way and work on the character traits in a practical and physical manner.[2, 6]
The Educational Methodology: Study Schedules and Practical Work in the Committees
Education in the Novardok yeshivas displayed extraordinary perseverance and a close integration of intensive Torah study with practical mussar work.[5] The study schedules, as they were conducted in the Bialystok yeshiva — which was the largest of the movement's yeshivas — are characterized by a sequence of extended hours of study into the night.[5, 6]
The Daily Schedule in the Bialystok Yeshiva
The yeshiva was organized in committees run by the greatest of the students, who excelled in education and in mussar work, among them Rabbi Nissan Potashinsky, Rabbi Isaac Graievsky, Rabbi Aharon Ogolnik, Rabbi Yaakov Zaldin and Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Waldshan.[5] The educational process was divided into two central domains: theoretical work in mussar, which included acquiring knowledge in the books of the Rishonim such as Duties of the Heart, Maimonides (Rambam), Rabbeinu Yonah, early Bible commentators such as Ibn Ezra and Nahmanides (Ramban), and the study of midrashim; and practical work in the area of the character traits and fear of Heaven according to the seasons of the year.[5]
Practical Work on the Character Traits in the Committees According to the Seasons of the Year
The Book "Madregat ha-Adam": The Project of Writing and the Monthly Study Schedule
Rabbi Yosef Yozel's central work, "Madregat ha-Adam," contains the essence of the spiritual teaching of the Novardok current.[5] The process of creating the book began when Rabbi Yosef Yozel's disciples felt a need to put his talks into writing.[5] Rabbi Yosef Yozel would deliver his discourses, and outstanding students would record his words on the spot.[5] Afterwards he would examine the notes, choose the one who had been most precise in capturing his thought — usually Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Waldshan — and would correct, change, add or remove until he approved the discourse.[5] In cases where he was not satisfied with the manner of writing, Rabbi Yosef Yozel would write the entire matter himself.[5]
After Rabbi Yosef Yozel's death, his discourses were studied regularly in the network of Novardok yeshivas according to the months of the year, with each month's study focusing on a different pamphlet (discourse) according to a fixed annual cycle.[5]
The Structure of the Book "Madregat ha-Adam" and the Monthly Study Schedule
The Radical Practice: Breaking the Character Traits, Absolute Trust and the Song of the Narrow Bridge
Novardok championed a series of practices of "breaking the character traits," the best known of which are acts of public self-humiliation.[2] The aim of these acts was to uproot from the student's heart the fear of the criticism of those around him, to injure the inflated ego and to develop complete indifference to his personal honor.[2, 7] For this reason Novardok students would deliberately dress in worn and unelegant clothing, and perform acts that were considered bizarre in the eyes of people, such as entering a pharmacy to buy nails.[2, 6]
Another fundamental principle was absolute trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, with the reduction of physical effort to the absolute minimum.[1] Rabbi Yosef Yozel was confident and certain that his lacks would be filled if the Lord so desired, and he took no trouble at all for them.[1] A classic example of this is given in the story of Rabbi Yosef Yozel who sat and secluded himself in a special house in the heart of the forest and engaged in Torah.[1] When his candle gradually went out, he was sorry for the neglect of Torah study that this would cause, but placed his trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, that if light was due to him, it would be supplied to him.[1] According to the Novardok tradition, his needs were indeed supplied to him beyond the bounds of nature.[2]
Seclusion in the forests and in isolated places ("solitude") was very common among the students, with the aim of acquiring the trait of trust and delving deeper into mussar thoughts.[2, 5] This custom aroused discussions around the Kabbalistic warning of the Ari, of blessed memory, according to which one should not go alone to places where there are no people.[8] Therefore it was instituted in some communities — and in particular in Breslov Hasidism, which maintained a certain ideological affinity with Novardok — to go to seclusion in pairs to the same place, with each one taking a separate corner and secluding himself in it between himself and his Maker.[8]
In this context, the song most widely sung in the network of Novardok yeshivas was "The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to fear at all."[4] This song was composed by Rabbi Yosef Yozel himself, based on the famous saying of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Likutei Moharan, and it reflected the fearlessness and iron determination that were required of the yeshiva's students in the face of life's difficulties and the upheavals of the generation.[4]
Dialectical Analysis: Comparison, Critique and Geographical Spread
The teaching of Novardok developed in the course of constant dialectical confrontation with parallel moral and halakhic conceptions in its generation, which deepened its distinctiveness and sharpened its characteristics.[6, 9]
Dialectical Comparison between the Novardok Approach and the Slobodka Approach
On the other hand, fierce opposition to this approach came from the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz (the "Chazon Ish").[9] The Chazon Ish opposed in principle the path of institutional mussar teaching, as well as the yeshiva style of study based on the methods of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk and Rabbi Shimon Shkop, since in his view these methods enhance the standing of the learner as an independent subject over his subordination to the halakhic text.[9] The Chazon Ish did not recognize the human ability to bring about an inner change deriving from oneself alone, and therefore held that the only way to overcome the inclination is through complete subordination to halakha and in-depth theoretical study of Torah.[9] The Chazon Ish saw Torah study in itself as the instrument that subdues and breaks a person's character traits, without need for external psychological systems.[9] Nevertheless, it is worth noting that despite the intellectual disagreement, the Chazon Ish displayed a practical attitude of patronage toward the network, and in 5696 (1936) even helped to establish the Novardok kollel for married scholars "Ateret Yosef" in Bnei Brak (later moved to Tel Aviv) in memory of the Alter of Novardok.[6]
From a psychological standpoint, Novardok's extreme work on the character traits sometimes exacted heavy prices.[7] The constant effort to accept insults and contempt led some of the students to a harsh feeling of lack of self-worth and loss of meaning, which severely harmed their self-confidence and their joy of life, and sometimes left them as "a broken vessel" from so many humiliations.[7] Nevertheless, the iron resilience acquired by those who survived this crucible enabled the network to rehabilitate itself quickly after the First World War, and to establish a ramified network of branches throughout Poland and Latvia.[6]
Branches of the "Beit Yosef" Network in Poland and Latvia between the World Wars
The outbreak of the Second World War brought an end to the network's flourishing in Europe.[6] The students fled to Vilna and from there wandered to Birzh.[6] Some received entry visas to the United States and established a branch there headed by Rabbi Avraham Yaffen, while those who refused Soviet citizenship were sent to forced labor in Siberia.[6] Some of those who remained in Europe, among them Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Waldshan, were murdered by the Germans.[6] The survivors of Siberia established a yeshiva in Łódź in 1946, and after the Kielce pogrom immigrated to the Land of Israel and integrated into the local branches that had already been established in the 1930s [6]:
- "Beit Yosef" Yeshiva in Tel Aviv: Established in 5689 (1929) by Rabbi Hillel Witkind, moved to Bnei Brak in the 1960s and became the "Beit Hillel" kollel headed by his son-in-law Rabbi Mordechai Mann, and subsequently a yeshiva for young men called "Divrei Mordechai" was opened in the building, headed by his son Rabbi Yosef Mann.[6]
- "Beit Yosef" Yeshiva in Bnei Brak: Established in 5691 (1931) by Rabbi Matityahu Stiegel with the assistance of Rabbi David Bliacher, and headed by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky (the "Steipler").[6]
- "Ateret Yosef" Kollel and "Etz Yosef" Kollel: The Ateret Yosef kollel was established in Tel Aviv and in Bnei Brak, and in the 1940s was presided over by Rabbi Shmuel Weintraub, and one of its heads was Rabbi Shemaryahu Yosef Karelitz.[6] Rabbi Weintraub also served as president of the "Etz Yosef" kollel in Jerusalem, headed by his son-in-law Rabbi Yitzchak Bernstein.[6]
- "Beit Yosef-Novardok" Yeshiva in Jerusalem: Established in 5697 (1937) by Rabbi Ben Zion Bruk, thereby sealing the project of rehabilitating the Novardok legacy in the Holy Land.[6]
Sources9
- 1.הסבא לא זז ולא נע, המשיך לעמוד כשכוס ההבדלה בידו, והמתין לעת שיוכל להבדיל - דרשו, dirshu.co.il/הסבא-כדרכו-בקודש-לא-זז-ולא-נע-מלא-בטחון/
- 2.הסבא מנובהרדוק – ויקישיבה, yeshiva.org.il/wiki/index.php/הסבא_מנובהרדוק
- 3.יוסף יוזל הורוביץ - ויקיפדיה, he.wikipedia.org/wiki/יוסף_יוזל_הורוביץ
- 4.הרב יוסף יוזל הורביץ זצוק"ל- הסבא מנובהרדוק - י"ז כסלו - ברסלב סיטי, breslevcity.co.il/הילולת-הצדיקים-יז-כסלו-הסבא-מנובהרדוק/
- 5.מדרגת האדם – ויקיפדיה, he.wikipedia.org/wiki/מדרגת_האדם
- 6.ישיבת נובהרדוק - ויקיפדיה, he.wikipedia.org/wiki/ישיבת_נובהרדוק
- 7.גאווה, פסקה א - ישיבת הר ברכה, yhb.org.il/shiurim/03-05-01/
- 8.התבודדות ביערות - האם מותר לספרדים? - משיב כהלכה, meshiv.co.il/shelot_vetshuvot/התבודדות-ביערות-האם-מותר-לספרדים/
- 9.תפיסת האדם ותפקידה של ההלכה בהגותו של החזון איש - מכון הרטמן, heb.hartman.org.il/perceptions-of-the-person-and-the-role-of-halacha/