Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz

Another Talmid of the yeshiva in Boro Park was Rav Yeruchom Olshin, shlit”a, who observed the Rosh Yeshiva carried out his unique shlichus of transmitting the teachings of his father, and of his predecessors, to perfection. Indeed, he toiled for his entire life to publish and disseminate the teachings of Rav Yeruchom and of his Rebbe, the Alter of Kelm. The fruits of his work were Da’as Torah, Da’as Chochmah Umussar, Chochma Umussar, and other works. These emerged in various editions, some by his children after his passing. This work took no small amount of toil, and required a deep familiarity with Torah generally, and with Rav Yeruchom’s style and intention in particular. But these endeavors were not merely the work of an elucidator; Rav Simcha Zissel lived mussar. He was a ga’on in his own right, who would speak drawing from all areas of Torah, and he was shaped by mussar. He never wavered from something he thought was right, and he pursued the truth fiercely. He was possessed of incredible middos... ah shtick mussar. In later years, he also dedicated himself to renovating the matzeivah of his father—likewise, an immense undertaking that took much effort. At his levaya, Rav Shlome Wolbe, a prize talmid of Rav Yeruchom, expressed the debt of gratitude that all of Klal Yisroel owes to Rav Simcha Zissel for his life’s work: “Not a day goes by when I don’t utilize the seforim—including Rav Simcha Zissel’s introductions, which are themselves seforim.” On 2 Av, 2001, Rav Simcha Zissel was niftar after a short illness, concluding a lifetime of inspiring and elevating himself, and his fellow Yidden through the beauty of Torah and mussar, and bequeathing the Torah world the timeless teachings of the greatest gedolim of the mussar movement.

World War II changed the course of his life, and he was fortunate to escape the fate of so many from that prewar Torah world, through Shanghai. Arriving in America in 1941, he joined the fledgling yeshiva in White Plains, which later became BMG of Lakewood. There, he was reunited with at least two Kelmer alumni, Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, the mashgiach of Lakewood, and Rav Hirsh Genauer (another great-grandfather of this writer). He taught in the Mirer Yeshiva in Flatbush, alongside Rav Leib Malin with whom he was very close. In 1944, he married Rebbetzin Shulamis, the daughter of Rav Naftoli Carlebach, zt”l, originally from Germany, who hailed from generations of Rabbonim. But he ached to perpetuate the legacy of his father, and his holy path. Around 1950, he founded the yeshiva Chochma Umussar in Boro Park, an institution through which he shaped and influenced countless bachurim. Rav Lipa Geldwerth, shlit”a, a Boro Park native, and talmid of Rav Simcha Zissel, recalled: “We were fine bachurim, but our postwar generation was too distant from the aura of the world that the Rosh Yeshiva knew (in his introduction to his father’s seforim, he laments the lowliness of America and how it represents the darkness before the dawn of Moshiach). Rav Simcha Zissel possessed the abilities to erect a bridge through which we too could be inspired. He understood the nature of each talmid, their talents and desires. He bequeathed us the gift of mussar through his deep wisdom. He did not demand perfection from us; he aroused in each of us the desire to demand it from ourselves!”

HaRav Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz (1908–2001) was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi and founder of the first Mesivta (Jewish High School) in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and a teacher of thousands of students.

He was born in 1908 in Ozovnet, Lithuania. His father, Musar movement leader Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, was the spiritual leader of Yeshivas Mir.

Rav Simcha Zissel was born to his illustrious father, Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, the mashgiach of the Mir, and to his mother Rivka, in the year 1908. At the time, Rav Yeruchom had not yet assumed the position as mashgiach of the Mirer yeshiva, and he was serving as the menahel ruchani of the venerated Kelmer Talmud Torah. Rav Yeruchom had himself been one of the most esteemed graduates of the Talmud Torah, a prize talmid of the Alter of Kelm. The family resided in the nearby town of Užventis (pronounced Uzvent). The child was named Simcha Zissel, after Rav Yeruchom’s Rebbe, the Alter of Kelm, one of the pioneers of the derech hamussar. In time, Rav Simcha Zissel would dedicate his life to perpetuating and disseminating mussar, and a fiery ba’al mussar in his own right. Rav Simcha Zissel’s chinuch was at the feet of his holy father, and that influence remained with him his entire life. The shmuessen of Rav Yeurchom in the Mir were legendary. In general, the mashgiach was deeply revered by all the talmidim, but the weekly chumash shiur— at which he would draw out the machshavah, and a pure Torah philosophy from the parshah—was another level. Talmidim would describe the aura, the reverence... how one could hear a pin drop during the entire time. Talmidim were arranged in a semi-circle around the mashgiach, and they would drink in every syllable with great thirst. One of the more prominent ones, who was also the ba’al koreh in the Mir, was Rav Aaron Yeshaya Shapiro, a great-grandfather of this writer, who later served as a Rosh Yeshiva in Torah Vodaath for four decades. He transcribed a wealth of these shmuessen, which became part of the seforim that Rav Simcha Zissel later published. Rav Simcha Zissel was highly regarded in the Mir, and was seen by many as a future successor to his father. In addition to the Mir, he spent two years learning in Kelm, absorbing the spirit that further shaped him in the ways of mussar. He also learned in Grodno, as well as in Brisk, where he became a talmid muvhak of the Brisker Rov.