Rabbi
Yisroel Lipkin, better known as "
Rav Yisroel Salanter", (November 3, 1810,
Zhagory - February 2, 1883,
Konigsberg) was the father of the
Mussar movement in
Orthodox Judaism and a famed
Rosh yeshiva and
Talmudist. The epithet
Salanter was added to his name due since most of his schooling took place in Salant, where he came under the influence of
Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant.
Rabbi Lipkin was born in Zagare, Lithuania on November 3, 1810, the son of Rabbi Zev Wolf, the Rabbi of that town and later Av Beth Din of Goldingen and Telz, and his wife Leah. As a boy, he studied with Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Braude of Salant.
After his 1823 marriage to Esther Fega Eisenstein (died August 1871, Vilnius), Rabbi Lipkin settled in Salant, where he continued his studies under Rabbi Hirsch Broda and Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant, himself a disciple of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. Rabbi Zundel exerted a deep influence on the development of Rabbi Lipkin's character; he had stressed religious self-improvement (mussar), which Rabbi Lipkin developed into a complete method and popularized.
He was a tremendous Torah scholar. Around 1842, Rabbi Lipkin was appointed rosh yeshiva of the Rabbi Meile yeshiva (Tomchai Torah) in Vilna. However, there was a minor scandal revolving around his appointment, and he willingly left the post to its previous inhabitant, moving instead to Zarechya, an exurb of Vilna. While there, he established a new yeshiva where he lectured for about three years.
