Equations, the Mussar Movement, and the Ethical Will

For years I’ve been working on a mathematical equation that I haven’t got quite right or been able tp prove. The facts are easy enough: when two people are having a conversation, there’s actually three conversations going on. One inside each person’s head, and one between them (even if there’s no talking). Which means’ there’s 7 conversations between three people, etc. I think it’s #people x #people + 1 + the # of people in the conversation, or something like that.

Thinking of mathematical proofs – which is not my strong point -reminded me of Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin. Referring to Wikipedia (where else?) it says that with Charles-Nicolas Peaucellier, Lipkin invented the first true planar straight line mechanism – the first planar linkage capable of transforming rotary motion into perfect straight-line motion, and vice versa. Wikipedia continues,

Until this invention, no planar method existed of converting exact straight-line motion to circular motion, without reference guideways. In 1864, all power came from steam engines, which had a piston moving in a straight-line up and down a cylinder. This piston needed to keep a good seal with the cylinder in order to retain the driving medium, and not lose energy efficiency due to leaks. The piston does this by remaining perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder, retaining its straight-line motion. Converting the straight-line motion of the piston into circular motion was of critical importance. Most, if not all, applications of these steam engines, were rotary. The mathematics of the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage is directly related to the inversion of a circle.

Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin, Wikipedia says, was the youngest son of the “famed” son of Rabbi Israel Salanter, or the Salanter Reb (Rabbi). The Salanter Reb was the founder of the modern Mussar Movement, which might be called ethical Judaism. What I heard growing up, and what I listed on my genealogical chart for high school, is that the Salanter Rabbi is my great-great-great-great grandfather (and I’m otherwise unrelated to Yom Tov Lipman). Some in town question whether this could be true, because apparently everyone wants to claim the Salanter Reb as an ancestor.

The Ethical Will

I was interested in looking for the ethical will from the Salanter Rabbi. An ethical will is a series of moral instructions to a persons descendants on what he want them to do – first, in the sense of how he should be buried, and second, how his children and grandchildren should live life.

It turns out that the beat up, taped-together-with-painters-tape, ethical will – with English translations – was not for the Salanter Rabbi, but for another ancestor, Rabbi Joseph Moses Abraham Levinski, known as the Tzadik [a good moral and spiritual leader] of Lazday.

I interrupt these thoughts to say that I’m not bragging about my ancestry, or tooting my horn. What we know and what we can know of our ancestors, and their lives, and what expectations they might have of us, though, is fascinating and important. The English version of the ethical will that I’m referring to were organized by cousins – second, third, or fourth cousins – who were equally interested in their ancestry, and shared with my grandmother because she remained interested in her family history.

The Tzadik’s ethical will mentions the Salanter Rabbi and the Mussar movement, which called him “the founder and spiritual leader of the Mussar Movement.” It gives a history of other rabbis that influenced Israel Lipkin – the Salanter Rabbi – and describes Mussar as the improvement and refinement of the human person.

In this sense the ethical will of Joseph Levinki, written before cars and most modern amenities we take for granted, remains relevant and interesting.

An image of the ethical will of Rabbi Joseph Moses Abraham Levinski, taken from the internet.