Mesillat Yesharim

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Mesillat Yesharim

The Mesillat Yesharim (Hebrew: ????? ????? English: "Path of the Just") is an ethical text composed by the influential Rabbi

Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto , also known by the Hebrew language acronym RaMCHaL , was a prominent Italy Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and Jewish philosophy....
(1707-1746). It is quite different from Luzzato's other writings, which are more philosophical

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
.

Mesillat Yesharim was written and published in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

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Encyclopedia

The Mesillat Yesharim (Hebrew: ????? ????? English: "Path of the Just") is an ethical text composed by the influential Rabbi

Rabbi

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Philosophy

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
. The earliest known manuscript of Mesillat Yesharim, written in 1738, was arranged as a dialogue between a hakham (wise man) and a hasid (pious person). Before publication, it was rearranged to have only one speaker.

Mesillat Yesharim is probably Luzzato's most influential work, forming part of the curriculum of virtually every yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
since being introduced by the Mussar Movement

Mussar movement

Mussar movement refers to a Judaism ethics, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Orthodox Judaism Eastern Europe, particularly among the Lithuanian Jews....
of Rabbi

Rabbi

Yisrael Salanter

Rabbi Yisroel Lipkin, better known as "Rav Yisroel Salanter", was the father of the Mussar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist....
.

Aim of the work

The aim is the perfection of character. Unlike most mussar seforim, which are ordered by character trait, Luzzato builds his work on a Beraita (quoted in many places, including (Bablylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah
Avodah Zarah

Avodah Zarah is the name of a tractate in the Talmud, located in Nezikin, the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with legal damages. The main topic of the tractate is laws pertaining to Jews living amongst Gentiles, including regulations about the interaction between Jews and "idolaters" , both for distancing Jews from the act of id...
20b)) in the name of the sage Pinchas ben-Yair, whose list goes in order of accomplishment.

Within each step, Luzzatto explains the step itself, its elements, how it can be acquired, and what might distract from its acquisition. For example: Watchfulness can be acquired by setting aside time for introspection, and acquiring watchfulness can be impaired by excessive mundane responsibilities, wrong company or a cynical stance in life. The same pattern is used for every single one of the traits mentioned.

Outline

Introduction

Man's Duty in this World (Ch. 1)

Watchfulness (zehirut) (Ch. 2-5)

Alacrity (zerizut) (Ch. 6-9)

Cleanliness (of sin, nekiyut) (Ch. 10-12)

Abstention (of improper practices, perishut) (Ch. 13-15)

Purity (tahara) (Ch. 16-17)

Piety (chassidut) (Ch. 18-21)

Humility (anava) (Ch. 22-13)

Fear of sin (yirat chet) (Ch. 24-25)

Holiness (kedusha) (Ch. 26-27)

Epilogue

Influence

Mesillat Yesharim is perhaps the most important Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
ethical

Ethics

Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....
text of the post-Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
period. The Vilna Gaon

Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
commented that he couldn't 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. These and similar pronouncements largely cleared Luzzato from misgivings by others as to his suspected Sabbatean

Sabbatai Zevi

Sabbatai Zevi, was a rabbi and Kabbalah who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and later converted to Islam. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbateans movement and inspired the founding of a number of other similar sects, such as the D?nmeh in Turkey....
leanings.

Resources/References

Complete Messillat Yesharim online

Further Reading

Luzzato, Rabbi Moshe Chayim. Mesillas Yeshorim; translated by Yosef Leibler. New York: Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 1-58330-691-9.
Luzzato, Rabbi Moshe Chayim. The Path of the Just; translated by Yaakov Feldman. New York: Jason Aronson
Jason Aronson

Jason Aronson is an United States publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, sexual abuse, stress, trauma, bereavement, and other subjects....
Publishers. ISBN 1-56821-596-7.
Luzzato, Rabbi Moshe Chayim. The Complete Mesillat Yesharim; translated by Avraham Shoshana and associates. Cleveland: Ofeq Institute. ISBN 1-88125-544-4.