Meir Simcha was born in Butrimonys (Yiddish: Baltrimantz), Vilna Governorate, in the Russian Empire (now Lithuania) to Samson Kalonymus, a local wealthy merchant.

He received his education locally, and managed to evade the regular roundups of Jewish boys that were being held as a result of the Cantonist decrees that had been in effect since 1827.

After marrying in 1860, at age 17, he settled in Białystok, Grodno Governorate (now Poland), where his wife opened a business in order to support him while he continued his Talmudic studies.

[1] In Dvinsk, he received supplicants from the entire region, and was frequently consulted on issues affecting the community at large, including Poland and Lithuania.

[5] He was present at the founding meetings of Agudath Yisrael in the German town of Bad Homburg, but could not attend the first large conference in Katowice due to poor health.

He had several clashes with some of his contemporaries, including Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chafetz Chaim) on political issues and questions of Jewish law.

His student Menachem Mendel Zaks published Meshech Chochma, which contains novellae on the Torah, but very often branches off into questions of Jewish philosophy.