Memory Lane: Rav Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz, zt”l

Rav Simcha Zissel was a pillar of the postwar Mirer chaburah, a ba’al mussar and Rosh Yeshiva, a son of Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, the Mirer Mashgiach, who toiled for most of his life to perpetuate the legacy of his illustrious father, Rav Yeruchom, zt”l, and transmit his teachings to a new generation of American Jewry.  

In the Glow of the Mashgiach 

Rav Simcha Zissel was born to his illustrious father, Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, zt”l, 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 mashgiach in Radin. Rav Yeruchom had been one of the most esteemed graduates of the Talmud Torah in Kelm until the previous year, 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 was highly regarded in the Mir, and was chosen as the successor to his father. In addition to the Mir, he also learned in Grodno, as well as in Brisk, where he became a talmid muvhak of the Brisker Rov.  

Immediately upon the passing of Rav Yeruchom, in 1936, Rav Simcha Zissel and Rav Leib Malin began working to publish his mussar shmuessen. 

Disseminating Mussar 

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, and later in Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, where he became close to Rav Hutner. 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 build Torah in America, and he realized that the elementary school students were being underserved. He had his pick of positions as Rosh Yeshiva or Mashgiach at a number of prestigious yeshivos—but he chose to join the Yeshiva Toras Emes in Boro Park. 

Around 1950, he founded Mesivta of Boro Park, the first mesivta its kind in the area, 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 erected 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!”  

The Life of Ba’al Mussar 

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, and Chochma Umussar. These emerged in various editions. 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. After his passing, his children released shvivei da’as and sifsei da’as.    

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.