He’s driven, he’s focused, and he’s seriously modest. He’s also completely transformed Toras Avigdor. 

A Tape on a Table on a Rainy Day

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, and Mr. Eddie (Eliyahu) Levy, kollel yungerman, was in the middle of a taanis dibbur. As he left kollel for the day, he spotted a lone cassette tape lying on a table in the hallway. With nothing better to do, he took it along and put it into his car’s tape deck. He drove down to the beach and listened for an hour and a half.

Mr. Levy’s voice is still full of wonder twenty-five years later as he shares what he heard on that tape.

“An apple seed is brown and bitter, even though the apple is sweet. And the apple seed has more technology and more machinery than the greatest skyscraper, because not only can the apple seed turn into an apple tree, but it can produce thousands and thousands more apples.”

He was hooked.

Launching the Podcast

Fast forward to 2017. Mr. Levy picked up a simple booklet in shul, around five pages long. On the cover was printed “Toras Avigdor.” Calling the number on the first page, he found himself on the phone to Rabbi Amichai Markowitz, Toras Avigdor’s founder, now a close friend. They spoke, and Mr. Levy felt an overwhelming urge to get involved and help Toras Avigdor expand.

So he became the first major sponsor.

Meanwhile, his thirst for Rabbi Miller’s Torah grew. To make good use of his driving time, he would record himself reading the Toras Avigdor for that week and listen to the recording as he drove, simply for his own chazarah. A year on, with the encouragement of Baltimore-based Chaim Chernoff, the Toras Avigdor podcast was launched. 

“Hey, Junior!”

Three years later, Mr. Levy decided to treat the kids too! Without fanfare—but with a ton of dedication—he launched his second podcast, this time narrating the weekly Junior edition. His “Hey, Junior!” opening has become iconic among younger Toras Avigdor fans worldwide.

“For the Junior, I have to change the ‘spring’ in my voice,” says Mr. Levy. “Sometimes, recording the Junior is even more challenging, even though it’s only a five-minute broadcast!”

Mr. Levy’s narration became so popular that he now sends it weekly to Torah Umesorah to upload to their Chinuch.org website. Many parents have mentioned how they also enjoy the Junior. “They play it for their kids at bedtime or at dinner time. Morahs and rebbis play it in the classroom too!”

The Quick Drasha

You may have noticed a recent addition to your weekly Toras Avigdor parshah email. (If not, check it out!) Mr. Levy, not content with his two weekly recordings, now narrates a third, which he calls “The Quick Drasha.” In this recording, he selects a random topic from one of Rabbi Miller’s sefarim and reads it aloud.

He gets plenty of great feedback from eager listeners, effusively grateful for the chance to hear Rabbi Miller’s teachings as they go about their daily tasks. The chizuk they get is immeasurable.

Reaching a worldwide audience is rarely easy, but this podcast’s growth has been completely organic. Listeners now tune in across many podcast platforms. Add to this the Toras Avigdor email list, WhatsApp group, and app, and you’ll have to admit the podcast’s growth is simply mind-boggling. If you’re less techy or just prefer the telephone, you can even call in to Kol Avigdor from anywhere in the world to listen in.

Today, there are tens of thousands of listeners around the world, including in the most unlikely places, such as the Czech Republic, Japan, Indonesia, and Chile. One recent sponsorship even came in from Croatia.

Why?

Mr. Levy is clear about why he does so much for Toras Avigdor.

“It’s very simple,” he says. “Rabbi Miller is my rav. Without exaggeration, he saved my life. He saved my neshamah. He gave me a whole new meaning to my life as a frum Jew. He was one of a kind, and in my eyes, unquestionably the Gadol Hador in hashkafah, mussar, and emunah. There was nobody else like him. I was learning in kollel, but I didn’t realize what I was missing until I found Rabbi Miller. He’s done so much for me, in terms of my children, my marriage, my business, my social interactions. He literally changed my way of thinking from top to bottom.”

The Weekly Parshah Shiur at Ner Yisrael

Mr. Levy doesn’t seek recognition and shies away from the limelight. Unfortunately for him, the limelight follows him. 

When his oldest son was in Ner Yisrael, Mr. Levy would make the three-and-a-half-hour road trip weekly Thursday nights to join him for Mishmar. Word soon got out that the Voice of Toras Avigdor was in town. The bachurim were thrilled and requested a private parshah shiur. 

“I have a beard,” says Mr. Levy, but I don’t look like a rav and I’m not a rav! I was a little nervous. What would the Rosh Yeshivah say? What would the Menahel say? I’m not even a blade of grass compared to the rebbeim there!” 

There was no need to worry. Even when the group grew, the hanhalah was quite happy, and the weekly shiur continued.

Final Thoughts

For Mr. Levy, Rabbi Miller is very much alive and he feels close to him.

“Im yirtzeh Hashem I’ll be there when Mashiach comes, and my vision is that he’ll be the Kohen who’ll shecht my korban. I’ll be near him and learn with him.”

He has a message for Toras Avigdor readers: “Hold tight to Rabbi Miller’s emes. We’re almost there. You can read it (Toras Avigdor), you can listen to it. He makes it so practical, so clear, so creative, and so inspirational. If we try to put it into our hearts and minds, it will prepare us for the Geulah. Toras Avigdor is simply a revolution.”