Kelm Talmud Torah
Seeking to combat threats to traditional Judaism and to strengthen the cause of the Musar movement, Rabbi Ziv decided to open a school in Kelm, the Kelm Talmud Torah. At the time, Rabbi Ziv was almost forty years old.
The Talmud Torah opened in approximately 1865 and attracted young students, mainly thirteen and fourteen-year-olds. Rabbi Ziv’s teacher – Rabbi Yisrael Salanter – had taught Rabbi Ziv 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 study at the Talmud Torah focused on Musar, while comparatively little time was devoted to the conventional study of Talmud.
Rabbi Ziv also introduced general subjects such as geography, mathematics, and Russian into the Talmud Torah curriculum. These subjects were studied for three hours a day, which was unprecedented in traditional Lithuanian yeshivas. Rabbi Ziv did not view general studies as a "necessary evil" but rather argued that such studies would encourage "better living" and "a better understanding of religious teachings as well."
In 1872, Rabbi Ziv purchased a plot of land and erected a building for the Talmud Torah. A few short years later, however, in 1876, the Talmud Torah was denounced to the authorities, who began to watch it closely and to hound it. Rabbi Ziv decided to open elsewhere, and re-established 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 classes, a dining room and dormitories. The school in Grobin opened in 1880.
Rabbi Ziv, suffered from failing health which necessitated his spending long periods in his home, which was in Kelm. In 1881, he returned to Kelm, leaving his son, Rabbi Nochum Zev Ziv to run the Talmud Torah in Grobin. Young men from Kelm and the surrounding areas flocked to study under Rabbi Ziv and the town once again became a center of Musar.
From his home in Kelm, Rabbi Ziv continued to play a role in the running of the Talmud Torah in Grobin. This, however, began to be too difficult and Rabbi Ziv decided to close the yeshiva. He sent a member of his family to consult his teacher, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter who was living in Germany at the time.
Rabbi Salanter disagreed with the idea and the Talmud Torah remained open in Grobin until 1886. In that year, Rabbi Ziv’s health took a turn for the worse and his doctors warned him that there was real danger to his life if he continued making the effort that the running of the yeshiva in Grobin required. At this point, Rabbi Ziv was forced to close the Talmud Torah in Grobin.
With the closure of the Grobin Talmud Torah, the focus of his work shifted back to Kelm, which now regained its former prominence. Rabbi Ziv established a group that was known as "Devek Tov," comprising his foremost students. He shared a special relationship with the group's members and he worked on writing out his discourses for them, which, unfortunately, required more strength than he had.
A number of his students settled in Palestine in 1892, opening the "Beis HaMusar" in Jerusalem, under Rabbi Ziv’s auspices and with his support.
Rabbi Ziv died on Wednesday 26 July 1898 – the eve of Tisha B'Av, shortly after having recited the morning Shema. He died while in the middle of the paragraph “Ezras avoseinu”.
Read more about this topic: Simcha Zissel Ziv