Ziv was not only great in Musar but also in his knowledge of Torah and Talmud. Gordon, who was known as a fiery and tempestuous genius, would repeat his Talmudic thoughts to Ziv and seek his opinion on them, for he valued Ziv’s scholarship highly. Gordon said that his friend had been fluent in three orders of the Talmud, to such a level where he knew every comment of Rashi and Tosafot word for word. He was also fluent in all four divisions of the "Shulchan Aruch" and could locate any given Halacha within it with pinpoint precision.