Yoyzl Horowitz

Born in the shtetl of Plungyan (today Plungė, Lithuania), Yosef Yoyzl (Yoizel) Horowitz received a traditional education in Kurtevyan (today Kurtuvėnai, Lithuania), where his father, Solomon Zalman Horowitz, served as av bet din (head of a rabbinic court). In 1874, Horowitz met Israel Salanter (1810–1883), the progenitor of the Musar movement, whose teachings and disciples—such as Yitsḥak Blazer (1837–1907) and Simḥa Zisl Ziv Broyda (the Alter of Kelm, 1824–1898)—influenced him deeply. In the early 1890s, Horowitz established yeshivas throughout the region of his birth, with the largest one in Novardok (Novogrudok; today Navahrudak, Belarus), for which he came to be known as the Alter (Elder) of Novardok. His homilies, which were compiled in his book Madregat ha-adam (The Moral Stature of Man, 2 vols., 1918 and 1921), preach contempt for worldly comforts and concerns as the path to spiritual self-improvement and strengthened faith.