The Vilna Gaon (April 23, 1720 – October 9, 1797) was a prominent Jewish rabbi, Talmud scholar, and Kabbalist. His real name was Elijah (Eliyahu) ben Shlomo Zalman Kremer (or Kramer), but he is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha'Gaon ha'Chasid mi'Vilna, meaning "the saintly genius from Vilna", or in similar forms (Gaon of Vilna, Gaon mi Vilno, or Vilna Gaon), and as the Gra (a Hebrew acronym of "Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu"). Vilna Gaon - Youth and education. ...

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• Vilna Gaon - Youth and education
• Vilna Gaon - Methods of study
• Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism
• Vilna Gaon - Other work
• Vilna Gaon - Ascetism
• Vilna Gaon - Works
• Vilna Gaon - Influence

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Born in Vilna (now Vilnius), Lithuania, he gave evidence of the possession of extraordinary talents while still a child. As young as three years old he had committed the Bible to memory. At the age of seven he was taught Talmud by Moses Margalit, rabbi of Kaidan and the author of a commentary to the Jerusalem Talmud, and was supposed to know several of the treatises by heart. The Vilna Gaon is well known for having possessed a photographic memory. By eight he was studying astronomy during lunch time. From the age of ten he continued his stud ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

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He was one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities since the Middle Ages, and – although he is counted as an Acharon – he is held by many authorities after him as belonging to the Rishonim (Rabbinic authorities of the Middle Ages). Large groups of people, including many yeshivas, uphold the set of customs (minhag) that can be traced back to him: the minhag ha-Gra. His main student Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, founded the first yeshiva in his home town of Volozhin, Lithuania (now in Belarus). The results of this move, which met with the Vilna Gaon's approval, revolutionised Torah study, and the results of this p ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

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Elijah was a voluminous author; and there is hardly an ancient Hebrew book of any importance to which he did not write a commentary, or at least provide marginal glosses and notes, which were mostly dictated to his pupils; but nothing of his was published in his lifetime. Glosses on the Babylonian Talmud and Shulkhan Arukh are known as Biur ha-Gra ("Elaboration by the Gra"). A running commentary on the Mishnah is titled Shenoth Eliyahu ("The Years of Elijah"). Various Kabbalistic works have commentaries in his name. His ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

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Except in this instance, Elijah almost never took part in public affairs; and, so far as is known, he did not preside over any great school in Vilna. He was satisfied, as has been already stated, with lecturing in his bet ha-midrash to a few chosen pupils, whom he initiated into his scientific methods. He taught them Hebrew grammar, Hebrew Bible, and Mishna, subjects which were largely neglected by the Talmudists of that time. He was especially anxious to introduce them to the study of the midrash literature, and the minor treatises of the Talmud, which were very ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

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Elijah applied to the Talmud and rabbinic literature proper philological methods. He made an attempt toward a critical examination of the text; and thus, very often with a single reference to a parallel passage, or with a textual emendation, overthrew tenuous decisions of his rabbinic predecessors. He devoted much time to the study of the Hebrew Bible and Hebrew grammar, and was knowledgeable in the secular sciences, enriching the latter by his original contributions. His pupils and friends had to pursue the same plain and simple meth ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

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When Hasidic Judaism became influential in his native town Elijah, joining the rabbis and heads of the Polish communities, took steps to check the Hasidic influence. In 1777 the first excommunication by the Mitnagdim was launched at Vilna against the Hasidim, while a letter was also addressed to all the large communities, exhorting them to deal with the Hasidim after the example of Vilna, and to watch them until they had recanted. The letter was acted upon by several communities; and in Brody, during the fair, the cherem (ban of ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

Read more here: » Vilna Gaon: Encyclopedia II - Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism

Elijah led an ascetic life. He interpreted literally the words of the ancient rabbis, that the Torah can be acquired only by abandoning all pleasures and by cheerfully accepting suffering; and as he lived up to this principle, he was revered by his countrymen as a saint, being called by some of his contemporaries "the Hasid". Elijah once started on a trip to the Land of Israel, but did not get beyond Germany (although in the very early nineteenth century, waves of his students did manage the trip, settling mostly in the city of Tzfat. While at Königsberg he wrote to his family a letter which was published under the tit ...

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Vilna Gaon, Vilna Gaon - Youth and education, Vilna Gaon - Methods of study, Vilna Gaon - Antagonism to Hasidism, Vilna Gaon - Other work, Vilna Gaon - Ascetism, Vilna Gaon - Works, Vilna Gaon - Influence

Read more here: » Vilna Gaon: Encyclopedia II - Vilna Gaon - Ascetism