Bunim was instrumental in challenging the Hasidic status quo, in which he paired enlightenment philosophy with traditional Orthodox Judaism while controversially emphasizing the importance of the individual in regard to one's personal relationship with God.

His collected sermons, Eretz Tzvi received widespread recognition in Poland, even bearing an approbation from the famous Yechezkel Landau.

Tzvi was known to have been very familiar with medieval Jewish philosophy and would often emphasize a clear intellectual and textual understanding of rabbinic literature (peshat).

Following this, Simcha Bunim began privately learning Bava Kamma under a certain "Abba", who was a teacher in the Wodzisław beth midrash.

After spending some nine years in Mattersburg, Simcha Bunim briefly lived in Nikolsburg, now in the Czech Republic, where he learnt under Mordecai Benet.

[5] Over a year or so, Simcha Bunim stayed in the home of his father-in-law, where he began to privately study Hasidic philosophy with Moshe Leib of Sassov, and Yisroel of Kozhnitz.

[12] After staying with his father-in-law for a year or so, Simcha Bunim and his wife left Będzin and moved in with a certain Kalman, who managed the Kosher Meat Tax in Siedlce.

This conflict erupted around 1793 when the Yid Ha-Kadosh officially left the court of the Seer alongside his disciples in order to establish his own Hasidic movement in Przysucha.

[14][15][3] When Simcha Bunim arrived in Przysucha with the Yid Ha-Kadosh, he was employed by the wealthy businesswoman Temerl Bergson, who he had met through Yisroel of Kozhnitz.

She would often send Simcha Bunim to represent her timber firm at the annual trading fairs in Danzig, Leipzig and Frankfurt an der Oder.

After working for Temerl Bergson for several years, Simcha Bunim became increasingly bothered with the amount of long-distance travelling his job required of him and instead chose to establish himself in Przysucha long-term so that he could have more time to personally learn under the Yid Ha-Kadosh.

Simcha Bunim taught himself pharmacology and natural science and he eventually received his apothecary diploma after passing an exam before a board of doctors in Lviv.

[16] During the Napoleonic Wars, he garnered attention for his pharmaceutical excellence and personally served as an apothecary to several distinguished army commanders and Polish nobles.

Simcha Bunim at first was hesitant about taking up such a stressful position of leadership, but after much pressure from the Hasidim of Peshischa, he succeeded the Yid Ha-Kadosh.

[24][25] He believed that emotional and physical preparation for prayer is crucial for one to be able to fulfil the mitzvoth authentically and that personal analysis and self-honesty are integral for this process, which should be prioritized over halakhic restrictions of time.

[34][35] Simcha Bunim was adamantly against the autocratic nature which had defined the Hasidic leadership of his time and he encouraged his students, to think critically and to be independent of him.

Simcha Bunim criticized the institutions of dynasty in Hasidism, stating that any movement, which elects its rebbe based on pedigree rather than merit is bound to encounter issues.

These fundamental beliefs directly attacked the Hasidic status quo who became increasingly uncomfortable with the growth of the Peshischa movement, which often limited their power as rebbes, instead promoting an individualistic approach to Judaism.

[37][25] In 1822, at the wedding of the grandson of Avraham Yehoshua Heshel in Ustyluh, Ukraine, an attempt was made by the majority of the Hasidic leaders of Poland and Galicia to excommunicate Simcha Bunim.

Nearing the end of the debate, Avraham Heshel turned towards Yerachmiel Rabinowicz, the son of the Yid Ha-Kadosh, and asked him what he thought of Simcha Bunim.

Ultimately no negative came out of this event, but quite the opposite occurred, following the intense debates at the wedding, hundreds of young Hasids flocked to Peshischa, after hearing of the enlightened and unconventional approach of Simcha Bunim.

[38] Nearing the end of his life, Simcha Bunim became involved in the politics of Polish Jewry, being elected in 1825 as a representative of the Sandomierz Province as a member of the government commission on Jewish affairs.

After his death, Israel Yitzhak Kalish took Avraham Moshe's fraction of the community and gradually incorporated them into his own Hasidic dynasty based in Warka.