Simcha Zissel Ziv threats to traditional Judaism and to strengthen the cause of the Musar movement, Simcha Zissel decided to open a school in Kelm, the Kelm Talmud Torah. At the time, Simcha Zissel was almost forty years old. The Talmud Torah opened in approximately 1865 and attracted young students, mainly thirteen and fourteen-year-olds. Simcha Zissel’s teacher – Rabbi Yisrael Salanter – had taught Simcha Zissel the importance of Musar and so the Talmud Torah aimed not only to enhance its student’s Torah knowledge but also to shape their personalities and develop their character traits using the Musar approach. Indeed, much of daily
Simcha Zissel Ziv to accompany him, out of concern that the move to Moscow might have a negative effect on Wissotzky’s spirituality. Simcha Zissel then moved to Moscow, where he lived for two years. Following his time in Moscow, Simcha Zissel moved to St. Petersburg, then the largest city in Czarist Russia. After spending almost a year there, the communal leaders brought Simcha Zissel a signed document appointing him as their Rabbi. He was unwilling to accept the position, however, and proposed that his friend from the yeshiva in Kovno – Rabbi Yitzchak Blazer – be appointed to the position. Seeking to combat