Au Revoir, Rav Yisrael

Title: Au Revoir, Rav Yisrael!

Location: Paris, France

Document: HaMagid

Time: May 1880

This esteemed person [Dr. Judah Sternheim], contemplating the Jews of Poland and Russia who had lived there [in Paris after their immigration] many years without guide or shepherd, was troubled over his brethren lest they become lost in a pathless wasteland. He decided to act on behalf of G-d and His faith, and girded his strength to arouse the great eagle from its nest — namely, the great gaon and sublime tzaddik, our teacher Rav Yisrael Salanter, may he long live — to come here [to Paris] so that he may oversee the activities of that congregation, and that this stumbling block be under his control.

—HaMagid, 1882

After 17 years of prodigious activity in Vilna and Kovno spreading the ideals of mussar, Rav Yisrael Salanter left Eastern Europe in 1857, returning only for sporadic visits. For the next 26 years of his life, the great founder of the Mussar movement, and one of the greatest tzaddikim and geonim in the whole Russian Empire, resided in various cities across Germany — Halberstadt, Konigsberg, Memel, Berlin, Hamburg — and even spent a curious two-year stint in Paris, France.

What was behind his sudden departure? Why did he remain in Western Europe until his passing? And most importantly, what did he set out to accomplish during his long sojourn away from familiar surroundings?

He left for Germany to seek medical care for his worsening health issues. After he’d been there for several months, his observations on the spiritual state of German Jewry made him decide to remain. While Eastern Europe was then beginning its own confrontation with modernity and secularization, Germany and other Western European Jewish communities were already decades into the experience.

Rav Yisrael had a keen perception of the societal trends and challenges facing German Jewry, and he embraced the responsibility to act on behalf of his people. He decided that his physical presence in Germany would boost his attempts to help individuals and communities strengthen their religious observance.