Musar

Musar literature is Jewish "ethical literature" that is used to shape everyday life in a positive way. It is "divided according to the component parts of the ideal righteous way of life; the material is treated methodically – analyzing, explaining, and demonstrating how to achieve each moral virtue (usually treated in a separate chapter or section) in the author's ethical system." 1 Medieval Musar was composed by a wide range of people including Rabbis and philosophers. Joseph Dan has argued that medieval Musar literature reflects four different approaches: the philosophical approach; the standard rabbinic approaches; the approach of Chassidei Ashkenaz; and the Kabbalistic approach. 2 Medieval Musar literature inspired modern forms during the 18th century in Amsterdam, the Ottoman empire and more recently the Musar movement.

1, 2) Joseph Dan, "Ethical Literature" //Encyclopaedia Judaica,// ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed., vol. 6.