Zev Zalman (Z.Z.) Ludwick is the only Breslover chasidic luthier in the state of Maryland – if not on the entire East Coast. Most likely, he is the only one in the world. (In case you were wondering, a luthier is someone who makes stringed instruments.) Interestingly, it was a string of Divine Providence incidents that led this musician to discover his passion for building and repairing violins.
“I always wanted to make a living in music,” says Z.Z. I wanted to be a rock star from the time I was five, and I also wanted to be involved in building instruments from a young age. I really did not have the follow-through, though,” admits Z.Z., proprietor of Ludwick’s House of Violin, in Silver Spring. “After a few weeks of searching online for an apprenticeship, I was ready to give up this dream when the hand of Hashem touched the situation.”
Googling the word “luthier,” Z.Z. noticed a pop-up ad saying that a violin repairman was needed at The Potter Violin Company in Maryland. “Potter’s had put up the ad only moments before I called,” recalls Z.Z. “I told them my background and was honest about not having formal training. My enthusiasm made a difference. I told them I would sweep floors, clean instruments, even scrub bathrooms just to get my foot in the door.”
Three interviews later, Z.Z. ended up in the shipping department, where he also cleaned and strung violins. The owner told him he would personally train him once a week and that he would eventually move up to the repair department.
“After only six weeks, their repairman moved back to Italy, and I moved out of the shipping basement to start my full-time, hands-on training,” says Z.Z. “What usually takes four to six years to complete, I completed in three-and-a-half years with a lot of sweat and determination, earning me the status of journeyman luthier.”
On His Own
Z.Z. moved on to managing a shop, where he did everything from repairs to sales and PR. Two-and-a-half years ago, he decided to open his own shop, specializing in violin, viola, cello, and mandolin sales and repairs. While furthering his education under the mentorship of violin world-renowned Master Luthier, Howard Needham, he also started building his own line of violins.
“I also buy unfinished European-built violins that come “in the white,” explains Z.Z. “I varnish them, unassembled. It’s a four- to six-week process. First, I tan the wood in special ultra-violet light chambers in a dust-free varnish area for a couple of weeks; then I chemically treat them before varnishing them.”
Varnishing is a tedious process. Z.Z. coats the violin with eight or more coats of varnish. After each coat, the violin pieces have to dry in the chamber. After varnishing it to a coffee brown finish, he reassembles the violin, gluing the fingerboard and installing the bridge and hardware. These finished violins will sell for between $3,000 and $6,000.
Breaking for Hisbodedus
More recently, Z.Z.’s time has been divided between his violin business and performing with the chasidic folk and rock band, A2ZZ, which he formed with Baltimorean Avraham Rosenblum. The two performed together years ago and were reunited on a trip to Uman this past Rosh Hashanah. They perform live for audiences as well as for an internet show each motzei Shabbos: Avraham on the guitar, Z.Z. on the mandolin. Their songs are a cholent of Avraham’s original Diaspora Yeshiva Band favorites, traditional fiddle music, and their own collaborative originals.
Z.Z. can easily spend fifteen-and-a-half hours a day in his workshop, building violins and fixing as many as 40 instruments that await repair at any given time. He breaks only for learning, davening, meals, and playing his mandolin.
He davens at Ohr Hatorah, a new break-off shul of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, but Z.Z. also goes out by himself into the woods or a room, usually at night, for up to an hour each day. This is where he does his “hisbodedus,” the daily meditation prescribed by the Breslovers that consists of a conversation with Hashem.
“I pour my heart out,” shares Z.Z. “We Breslovers see our Rebbe Nachman as an antecedent; if our tefila can’t get to Hashem, the Rebbe takes it to Hashem. We never pray to him; rather we ask, ‘Please beg Hashem on your behalf to help me or my family.’
“Breslov believes in a personal relationship with Hashem, talking to him as if He were standing right next to you, like your best friend,” continues Z.Z. “The things that you would tell a confidante you talk to Hashem about. Rebbe Nachman says this is the highest level of emuna. As Breslov husbands, we don’t come home and tell our wives our problems. We are supposed to come home like a light to illuminate. Why should you bum out your spouse or friend with your problems?”
Z.Z. explains the Breslover philosophy: You have to be besimcha, happy, 23 hours a day; the other hour, you can cry out your problems to Hashem.
Personal Miracles
“If you are not happy, Hashem does not illuminate you with a divine light,” says Z.Z. “For me, happiness is music; music is simcha and Breslov; it’s all kind of intertwined. It’s a big emuna to talk to Hashem and to tell your problems and to be grateful. I’ve had so many miracles happen for me in the last few months, I can’t even pour out to Hashem all the gratitude that I have. Just to be grateful is a big part of Breslov chasidus as well, even for something as small as a button.”
Z.Z.’s mentor in Breslov chasidus is his world-renowned brother, Rabbi Lazer Brody, a sought-after spiritual guide, the translator of Garden of Emuna, and the English spokesperson of Rabbi Shalom Arush.
“Just this week, a miracle happened to me,” says Z.Z. “I needed funding to continue my education with my violin-making mentor. I called my brother Lazer and told him I have to come up with a lot of money, and I don’t want to put it on my credit card. He said, ‘Don’t put it on the credit card. Tell your teacher you need 30 days to come up with the money. I want you to do hisbodedus 10 minutes every day and just ask Hashem for the money, 30 days in a row.’
I can tell you that on day 29 I had one of the biggest days I ever had and got the bulk of the money in one day! It was unbelievable! If I weren’t religious, I would have become religious – it gave me a lot of chizuk!
“It seems that when you need things and you rely on Hashem, you are successful,” continues Z.Z. “When I opened my shop, I talked to Hashem and said, ‘Okay, Hashem, this is your shop. I’m just going to run it; you are the owner, I’m the CEO trying to oversee the daily operations. You can’t go wrong when you are working for Hashem.”
Levi Yichus
With Z.Z.’s deep love of music, it’s no surprise that his mother is a bas Levi, the daughter of a Levite. The playing of stringed instruments goes back to the time of the Beis Hamikdash, when some of the Levites played instruments to accompany the others who sang during the offering of korbanos (sacrifices). Although we do not know what these instruments looked like, it is certain that the kinor was a stringed instrument, and could have been a type of violin.
Z.Z. notes that the modern violin dates back to mid-to-late 15th century Spain, where it seems to have gotten its start from the viol, a musical instrument of the Renaissance that was held vertically and played with a bow. “There is a theory that when the Jews were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition in 1492, they brought the viol to Italy,” mentions Z.Z. “There, Andrea Amati of Cremona, Italy, was the first person to create the violin as we know it today, in the mid-1500s. His two sons were also violin makers, as was his grandson, Nicolò Amati, whose two apprentices – Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri – were among the most famous luthiers in history.”
Addressing his own calling as a luthier, Z.Z. concludes, “My religion is a huge part of who I am and how I run the shop. We should listen to music that is from a holy, kosher source. Why shouldn’t we get our instruments from a holy, kosher source? If it’s made by a Yid, there’s a certain holiness about it.”
Future Luthier Plans
Z.Z. learns Gemara, Shulchan Aruch, and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s Likutey Moharan in the mornings, in addition to learning on the phone almost every weekday with his son, Adam, a kollel fellow in Yeshivas Ner Yisrael who is married to Miriam Bayla (nee Bortz), of Baltimore. Z.Z. has mentioned to his daughter-in-law that he plans to start teaching his one-year-old granddaughter the Suzuki method of violin so she can be playing the violin that he hopes to make for her by the time she is three.
Adam is helping his father learn for the challenging Yerushalayim-based Keter HaTorah semicha program degree he is pursuing. Concludes Z.Z., “I’m not Hashem’s spokesperson, but I don’t think Hashem wants me to be a pulpit rabbi or posek; I’m hoping that Hashem wants me to take care of the violins in the rebuilt Beis Hamikdash – and maybe the Leviim will let me sit in on a few tunes!”
