Group None

With the help of God. Honored [recipients]…. May they be blessed [to receive] the final confirmation1Lit. “seal.” The favorable ruling for a good year, prayed for on Rosh HaShana, is sealed on Yom Kippur. This formula, “Gemar ḥatima tova” in Hebrew, is a standard greeting during the days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. of a good year.

As for the state of my health, words fail, as I said to your honored selves. Yet my heart rejoices, nevertheless, because I received the letter that an agreement to build [a house of Mussar was reached]…. Since this affects me too – not physically but spiritually – my heart was stirred to write a brief, timely word.2Compare Proverbs 15:23.

The basic principle of the Days of Repentance is resolving to turn away from the sin. This is the most difficult of every form of worship on the coming Yom Kippur (may it be for the good). The most grave [sin] of all is theft: “In a basket full of sins, which accuses us first? Theft.”3Compare Leviticus Rabba 33. One must seek to repent at least in the most severe aspects, according to the subject and the object. According to the subject – the easier it is for a person to observe, the more severe [the sin] and the greater the punishment. As [the Sages], of blessed memory, say in Menaḥot 43b, the punishment for white is greater than the punishment for indigo…. See further there.4See Letter 7, n. 20. As for the object – stealing from a pauper is more severe [than stealing from one who has more resources]….

How hard it is for a person to find his way in this! “And woe to that shame!…,”5Bava Batra 75a. if with respect to so great a sin, one does not undertake, at least in some small part, a firm resolution [to change] for the future. Thus, how fortunate that we now have an opportunity to correct a case of possible theft, in which both of these matters [i.e., building a Mussar House and resolving to correct the sin of theft] come together. With respect to the subject, it is not difficult [to be honest] when building the [Mussar] House, [because it is not your money]. As for the object, perhaps even one person who wants to pour out his soul…will not be able to do so completely, God forbid, [because of lack of a building,] [so building this house is a mitzva]….So no one is exempt in this matter. Rather, each one according to his own circumstances and situation must seek out ways to establish a resolution to turn from the sin of theft – at least in the most serious area (defined by the criteria of subject and object), as said above.

So too with other sins, such as neglecting Torah study, which is the gravest of all, as explained in Shaarei Teshuva (The Gates of Repentance)6Shaarei Teshuva is a treatise on penitence authored by R. Jonah of Girona (d. 1264) to atone, it is thought, for his earlier attacks on Rambam. quoting Sifrei. See further there. The gravest aspect of this great sin depends on the subject and the object. According to the subject – the easier it would have been for the person to learn, whether due to time, as on Shabbat, etc., or circumstance, as when he has free time, etc., the greater the punishment. According to object – the punishment is greater for neglecting to learn what is needed by the person in practice, whether to know from study what to do himself or to know by means of it how to ask someone greater than himself how to act, etc. So too, this is the principle with respect to all of the Torah and every commandment, with respect to acts of omission and acts of commission: a person will be punished for his violation, and the easier it would have been for him to fulfill, and greater the punishment will be.

A person must search his ways to make a firm resolution, in almost every part of his business, to observe, at least, all the details of the Torah and commandment that are easy for him. This is the way to fulfill the mitzva of repentance in most aspects of his sins, for proliferation of sin does not follow quantity – the number – but quality (see Rambam, Laws of Repentance, ch. 3). That is, regarding whatever is easy for a person to observe, one sin is graver than several sins in matters that are difficult for him to observe. Likewise, regarding that sin itself, [there may be] a small detail which is easier for him to observe – so it is graver and its punishment is much greater than in many aspects of the transgression that are hard to observe.7This emphasis on the inner quality of a mitzva or a sin and on the uniqueness of each person doing the act based on individual levels of ease or difficulty is a kind of climax of R. Salanter’s teaching that God recognizes every individual temperament and judges every individual act uniquely, even though the external act may be the same. By this same Mussar analysis, both mitzvot and sins may carry much greater weight than their external appearances suggest. Thus, working on character and personal characteristics becomes more and more important. As a result of such development, each individual act may carry much greater or much lesser weight than routine and external judgment may recognize.

For example, with respect to the mitzva of studying Torah, it is very easy, even for someone who easily forgets, to review the Talmud or similar that he studied – many times, slowly, and in Yiddish.8Lit. “zhargon” (“jargon”) or “mother tongue.” The Jewish language of Yiddish was, at the time, considered a coarse corruption of German. Unlearned Jews spoke and understood Yiddish, but not necessarily Hebrew. At a minimum, he can know the cognitive flow without knowing the specific Tanna or Amora. He can meditate on it while he walks on the street through clean places,9There are public places, such as privies or manure piles, where it is prohibited to study Torah. or when he rides in a wagon, etc. Perhaps even in the course of his work, as mentioned; this is even easier for a merchant than for a Torah scholar who does not have many leisure opportunities to review often and to memorize – because he does not want to neglect his primary studies. Not so the merchant. If he can only go over the actual page of Talmud when he has a free hour, then he has most of the day before him to go over it in his mind several times.10R. Salanter is writing a guide for lay people who are not able to study Torah for long periods of time every day because they have to make a living. On the one hand, he is legitimating their right to go to work and earn an income in order to support their families. This is in contrast with the approach of his own rebbe, R. Joseph Zundel of Salant (1786–1866) and others, who argued that one should engage in as little work or business as possible, and to trust God to provide. On the other hand, R. Salanter is saying that they should use their hours in business to learn Torah by mental review, even as they are engaged externally with business matters. This letter shows that his Mussar movement (or at least the person that R. Salanter is writing to) is still engaged with lay people whom he seeks to mobilize for this movement, rather than with yeshiva students who would still be able to study Torah full time (while being supported by the community).

A busy person must strengthen himself in this great matter, which is easy in theory, to make sure that it becomes easy for him in practice, too. Let him not be seduced by the foolishness of his [evil] urge to think that it is “difficult.” Little by little, let him see to it that he memorizes Torah – the logical flow of the Torah – in Yiddish, which is easy even for a very forgetful person, and especially for a busy person who has time to review the learning mentally, despite being so busy.

The best thing is to study Mussar books on this, which talk about the greatness of the sin of neglecting Torah – so as to strengthen his soul not to neglect Torah for a significant period, for [Torah] is the life of a person.Your friend, Israel; the night of 8 Tishrei, 5637 (1876)