Reb Simcha Zissel was one of the three foremost talmidim of HaRav Yisroel Salanter. Reb Simchah Zissel was born in 5584 (1824) in Kelm. His father, R’ Yisroel, belonged to the well-known Lithuanian Broide family. His mother, Chaya, was descended from HaRav Tzvi Ashkenazi zt’l, author of ShUT Chacham Tzvi.
Reb Simchah Zissel married Chaya Leah, daughter of R’ Mordechai of Vidzh, a small town adjacent to Kelm. Following his marriage he travelled to Kovno, where he studied Torah and mussar under his foremost mentor, HaRav Yisroel Salanter zt’l, in R’ Tzvi Neviezer’s beis hamedrash. HaRav Yisroel later sent him to Zagor, to reinforce the beis hamussar that had been opened there. For a time, he delivered shiurim in the town of Kretinga.
After he had spent almost a year in St. Petersburg, then the largest city in Czarist Russia, the communal leaders brought Reb Simchah Zissel a signed document of appointment as their rov. He was unwilling to accept a rabbinical position however, and he proposed his friend, with whom he had learned together in Kovno, HaRav Yitzchok Blaser zt’l, for the position.
When he was almost forty years old, Reb Simcha Zissel resolved upon opening his great endeavor, the Talmud Torah of Kelm. Haskoloh was gaining ground everywhere and there was a real danger of mass defection from religious life in Lithuania where, just fifty years earlier, the Gaon of Vilna and his immediate disciples had lived and worked.
The Talmud Torah opened in approximately 5622 (1862) and it attracted young students, thirteen and fourteen year olds. The Alter wanted to shape the personalities of his students and develop both their Torah knowledge and their progress in mussar so that they would be able to resist the harsh spiritual winds that were then blowing.
Some ten years later, in 5632 (1872), he purchased a plot of land upon which he erected a building for the Talmud Torah. However, just a few short years later, in 5636 (1876), trouble began when the institution was denounced to the authorities, who began to watch it closely and to hound it. The Alter decided to open elsewhere, in Grobin in the Kurland province. He arranged for the purchase of a fine building, situated in a spacious yard. There was a main study hall, smaller rooms for shiurim, a dining room and dormitories.
Five years later, the Alter had to return to Kelm. This time, the move was dictated by his failing health, which began to deteriorate in 5641 (1881), and which necessitated his spending long periods in his home, which was in Kelm. Bochurim from the town and the surrounding areas gathered around him and the town once again became a mussar center.
From his home in Kelm, the Alter continued operating the Talmud Torah in Grobin, where he put his distinguished son, Reb Nochum Zev Ziv zt’l, in charge. However, running the institution from a distance proved too difficult and Reb Simchah Zissel decided to close the yeshiva. He sent a member of his family to consult HaRav Yisroel Salanter who was then in Germany.
HaRav Yisroel dismissed the idea out of hand and the Talmud Torah remained open in Grobin until 5646 (1886). In that year, the state of the Alter’s health almost collapsed and his doctors warned him that there was real danger to his life if he continued making the supreme effort that the continued running of the institution in Grobin demanded. The Alter was instructed to rest a lot and to go for walks. At this point, he was forced to close the Talmud Torah in Grobin.
With the closure of Grobin, the focus of his work shifted back to Kelm, which now reassumed its former prominence. The Alter established a group that was known as Devek Tov, comprised of his foremost talmidim. He shared a special relationship with the group’s members, and he worked on writing out his discourses for them, which demanded more strength than he had.
A number of his talmidim settled in Eretz Yisroel in 5652 (1892), opening the beis hamussar in Yerushalayim, under the Alter’s aegis and with his support. Several years later, in 5657 (1897), the famous Yeshivas Or Chodosh was opened in Chotzer Strauss in the Old City. The yeshiva was headed by the rov of Yerushalayim, HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt’l.
The Alter passed away on erev Tisha B’Av 5758 (1898), shortly after having recited the morning Krias Shema. He was niftar while in the middle of Ezras avoseinu, bringing the first glorious chapter of the history of Kelm mussar to a close.
