(Son of R. Simcha Zissel, “The Alter of Kelm”)

Ziv, NOchum Ze’Ev

Koenigsberg

n.d

Two Autograph Letters Signed, on personal stationery, written to R. Baruch Marcus (Chief Rabbi of Haifa), one of the major disciples of his father, R. Simcha Zissel. In the characterstic style of a Ba’al Musar, R. Nochum Velvel criticizes the honorifics bestowed upon him by Rabbi Marcus. “You are an intelligent person. How can you call me ‘ha-Chacham ha-Navon’ (the scholar of deep understanding)? You have made a joke and are mistaken about my character...” A lengthy philosophical discussion follows, in which the writer encourages Rabbi Marcus to read the words of the Vilna Gaon cited by his father in a letter written to R. Shmuel Shenker. “They are wonderful, marvelous, amazing secrets to one who delves into their meaning with a deep and proper understanding...(I have discovered] a new world! My astonishment repeated itself and I was not satiated...If a person was born only to merit to see these words of the Gr”a...it is more than enough.“ He also writes about the establishment of the Beith ha-Musar in Jerusalem under the direction of R. Shmuel Shenker. * AND: Written to R. Shmuel Shenker, discussing the Musar movement and the development of character with a citation from R. Simcha Zissel. Also encloses 50 rubles for the rent of the Beith ha-Musar in accordance with his father’s instructions

Affectionately known as R. Nochum Velvel, the writer was one of the leading exponents of the Musar school of Kelm and administered his father’s celebrated Musar Yeshiva, the Talmud Torah of Kelm. R. Nochum Velvel was known for his sterling personality and capacity for passionately articulating his thoughts, as is evident from this letter. R. Nochum Velvel Ziv was the teacher and eventually the father-in-law of Rabbi Elijah Eliezer Dessler (author Michtav me-Eliyahu), of Gateshead and Ponevezh. See R. Dov Katz, Tenuath ha-Musar, Vols. II and IV