From Teveryah to Yerushalayim // A fascinating visit with the renowned maggid shiur, Rav Michel Zilber

Rav Zilber is also renowned for his photographic memory. It is said that he can recall every single Torah insight he ever heard, something that becomes apparent when one listens to his shiurim and hears him cite peirushim and chiddushim that he learned decades ago. Like Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, he makes a siyum every year on both the Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi; in addition, he completes the entire Mishnayos every month and is always involved in yet another Torah-related project. These days, it is a common sight to see him at public events, testing avreichim on various topics.
In recent years, he has also begun to record shiurim on Chok L’Yisrael. Popularly known “the Chok,” the sefer is organized according to the seder established by the Ari Hakadosh, which consists of pesukim from the Torah, Neviim and Kesuvim, as well as a perek of Mishnayos, a passage from Gemara, and another passage from a Kabbalah sefer. The Chok is geared toward every Jewish man, even if he works for a living, and it divides the study into three parts: Mikra (Tanach), Mishnah and Talmud. In fact, I am visiting Rav Zilber in his home on Rechov Panim Meiros in the Romema neighborhood of Yerushlayim in honor of this project.
When I enter his apartment, I am immediately taken aback by its simplicity. Plain plastic chairs are stacked in one corner, and when Rav Zilber’s son asks if he should move them so we can take photos, the photographer stops him, saying, “We want to show the apartment exactly as it is.” The son leaves the chairs where they are, waiting to be occupied by those who come to participate in the shiurim the Rav gives in his home
As we soon learn, Rav Zilber is the embodiment of punctuality. Our interview is scheduled for 9:30 in the evening, and at half past nine on the dot we are summoned into his room. He greets us warmly and encourages us to ask whatever is on our minds. Without hesitation, I ask him to share some of his biographical information.
“My name is Yechiel Michel Zilber,” he answers matter-of-factly. “I was born in Tveryah on Erev Yom Kippur 5704 (1943). My family has been living there for seven generations, going back to the arrival of Rav Mendel Vitebsker [also known as Rav Mendel Horadoker]. I learned in Teveryah for cheder, and in 5717 (1957) I went to learn in the Slonimer yeshivah in Yerushalayim. Our cheder was typical; we learned in Yiddish and had very good melamdim. Did you know that I was tested by the Chazon Ish himself when I was a boy?” he suddenly asks.
“Really?” I say. “How did that come about?”
“These days,” he says, “when you want to take a boy out of cheder and go on a trip, where do you go? To a park or somewhere similar. But back then, people would take them to the Chazon Ish. Only a couple of weeks before the Chazon Ish’s petirah, when I was ten years old, our class of eight boys went on a special outing to visit him. It was like seeing a malach Elokim. He was very happy to interact with children with whom he could speak Yiddish, just like the olden days. He sat on his bed with his woolen tallis katan and his face was angelic. That was something we were able to recognize despite our young age.
“He asked us what we were learning, and we told him that we were studying the sugya of avdei kimkarka’ei damei in Bava Kama. He asked me a couple of questions, and I answered exactly what it says in the Gemara; I was never shy. He then stood up and went over to our melamed, Reb Chatzkel Lifshitz, and said, ‘Ashreichem v’ashrei chelkechem.’
“Much later, Reb Dovid Frankel, who was my best friend when I went to learn in Slabodka, told me, ‘I remember when you and your classmates went to see the Chazon Ish. He enjoyed it so much. “Look at these tinokos shel beis rabban,” he said at the time. “Yiddishe kinderlach who speak Yiddish and can answer questions to the point. I relished it very much.”’ And he wasn’t the only gadol I merited to meet. Just after my bar mitzvah I was zocheh to ‘get shalom’ from the late Belzer Rav without a towel [he would only give shalom to children under bar mitzvah with a towel over his hand].