Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv Broide zt"l
הרב שמחה זיסל זיב בן ישראל ברוידא זצ"ל
Av 8 , 5758
Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv Broide zt"l
Reb Simcha Zissel was one of the three foremost talmidim of HaRav Yisroel Salanter
Reb Simchah Zissel was born in 5584 תקפ"ט (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.
Stories of Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv Broide zt"l
Wondrous stories circulated in Kelm about the amazing degree of control that the Alter had over his every limb and over each of his senses. Rav Yeruchom would extol this ability, describing how every movement that the Alter made was the result of forethought. Even the movements of his eyes were carefully controlled.
For example, the Alter never let his gaze wander sideways. When he needed to look at something that was to one side of him, he turned his whole body in that direction and looked at it straight on. Generally in Kelm, turning one’s head to the side, unless it was for a very good reason, was considered something to be ashamed of.
Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, who was mashgiach in Lakewood, related the following:
“My teacher, Rav Doniel Movshovitz, who was one of the leaders of the Kelm Talmud Torah, never refrained from discussing any topic that cropped up, even when there was a widely held preconceived view on the matter . . . Whatever the subject, Rav Doniel would examine and argue and would try to establish the truth. Yet, when the discussion turned to some aspect of the Alter’s conduct or outlook, he would annul his own opinion and would stake his very soul in order to fathom the Alter’s thinking. He toiled in order to comprehend the Alter, whom he considered to be someone that it was imperative to understand.
“When asked to explain his special approach to the Alter’s conduct, Rav Doniel said that his great admiration for him arose after he had monitored his movements and actions and had discovered that he never made even the slightest movement without first having thought about it. The Alter did nothing without forethought. He didn’t open an eye or move his little finger without a reason or without preparation. Everything was calculated, befitting the level of an earlier generation.
“‘So,’ Rav Doniel concluded, ‘how can we imagine that we are capable of fathoming someone who didn’t move his little finger without thinking about it first?’ ”
Among Rav Yeruchom’s discourses, we find the following comments on this subject:
“The Alter of Kelm explained the meaning of the terms kallus rosh (irreverence) and koved rosh (decorum) as being simple translations. Kallus rosh, he said, is exactly that: having a light head, while koved rosh is also just that: having a heavy head. A person whose head is full of wisdom doesn’t turn it sideways and he doesn’t laugh readily. When looking at a layabout, however, one sees what he’s like in a moment. From the way he moves, it’s clear that he isn’t weighed down with any kind of content. His head is quite simply light. At every rumor and every slight noise, his head wags” (Da’as Torah, cheilek III, 117).
The source of the title Der Alter, by which most people refer to Rav Simcha Zissel, is not generally known. One of the Talmud Torah’s best-known talmidim, Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, once explained the name’s significance:
The Alter of Kelm didn’t feel worthy of being considered a talmid of Rav Yisrael Salanter, despite the fact that the latter was universally regarded as having been his main Rebbe. Rav Simcha Zissel was of the opinion that only someone who has acquired Torah from his Rebbe can be counted as a talmid. Although he esteemed Rav Yisrael highly, he felt that so long as he did not adopt his Rebbe’s conduct as his own and try to follow in his path in at least some small degree, he should not regard himself as his talmid. Out of respect, Rav Simcha Zissel would refer to Rav Yisrael as Der Alter, meaning “the Elder”.
Eventually, Rav Simcha Zissel’s own talmidim started referring to him by this name. Far from Kelm, the town’s name was added.
The Alter himself writes: “Not everyone who listens to a great man can be called his talmid, as I heard about Rav Chaim [of Volozhin], who said that he could not be called a talmid of the Gaon. This is because a talmid is one who receives wisdom from him in the proportion that a talmid receives from his teacher, as opposed to one who receives only a little. It is impossible to call the one the Rebbe and the other his talmid, for there is a great gap between them.”
By: Tzvi Munk-Shema Yisrael Network ~ Matzav.com Newscenter