Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Solomon Zalman,, also known as the Vilna Gaon, was a Lithuanian Jewish talmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of misnagdic Jewry of the past few centuries.
He is commonly referred to or by his Hebrew acronym גר״א Gr״a '' Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu "Our teacher Elijah the Genius", or in Modern Hebrew as ha-Gaon mi-Vilna "the genius from Vilnius".
Through his annotations and emendations of Talmudic and other texts, he became one of the most familiar and influential figures in rabbinic study since the Middle Ages. Although he is chronologically one of the Acharonim, some have considered him one of the Rishonim.
Large groups of people, including many yeshivas, uphold the minhag named after him, and which is also considered by many to be the prevailing minhag among Ashkenazi Jews in Jerusalem today.
Born in Sielec in the Brest Litovsk Voivodeship, the Gaon displayed extraordinary talent while still a child. By the time he was twenty years old, rabbis were submitting their most difficult halakhic problems to him for legal rulings. He was a prolific author, writing such works as glosses on the Babylonian Talmud and Shulchan Aruch known as Bi'urei ha-Gra "Elaborations by the Gra", a running commentary on the Mishnah, Shenoth Eliyahu "The Years of Elijah", and insights on the Torah entitled Adereth Eliyahu'', published by his son. Various Kabbalistic commentaries bear his name, and he wrote commentaries on the Book of Proverbs and other books of the Hebrew Bible later in life. None of his manuscripts was published in his lifetime.
When Hasidic Judaism became influential in his native town, the Vilna Gaon joined the Misnagdim, the rabbis and heads of Polish communities trying to curb Hasidic influence.
While he advocated studying branches of secular education such as mathematics to better understand rabbinic texts, he harshly condemned the study of philosophy and metaphysics.
Biography
Elijah was born to Treina and Shlomo Zalman, a rabbi, in the village of Slać near Brisk, now Brest, Belarus, then in Lithuania, part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, on 15 Nisan 5480.His grandfather was Yissachar Dov, the son of Rabbi Eliyahu Chassid, after whom he was named. Eliyahu was the son of Moshe Kramer, rabbi of Vilne, and his wife was the granddaughter of Moshe Rivkes, also a rabbi.
Until the age of six, he studied under a rabbi. At that age, he delivered a derasha in the Great Synagogue of Vilna that his father had taught him. At the request of Heschel, the Av Beit Din of Vilne, he added his own scholarly discourse to demonstrate his ability to innovate independently. His book Shnot Eliyahu contains an insight he expressed at age 7. At this age, he lived for about three months in Kaidan with the town's rabbi, David Katzenellenbogen, studying under him and Moses Margolies, author of Pnei Moshe on the Jerusalem Talmud and who later served as rabbi of Kaidan. At age nine, he began studying Kabbalah, devoting several hours daily to studying the Zohar and the writings of the Isaac Luria. By age ten, he studied independently and no longer required teachers. During this period, he befriended Aryeh Leib, who later served as the Av Beit Din of Tsechanovitz. From the age of eight, he engaged in astronomy.
As a young man, he married Chana, daughter of Yehuda Leib of Kaidan. His wife took responsibility for managing the household so he could devote himself entirely to study. After she died in 5543, he requested that the following be inscribed on her tombstone: "Chana passed away in 5543, 5 Kislev. She left no equal or comparison / There is no path or way to recount her praise." Later, he married Gitl, daughter of Meir Luntz from Chełm, who was also a widow.
At around age 20, he traveled to Poland and Germany, passing through Leszno and Berlin, and possibly also Amsterdam. He returned to Vilna in 5505. Over the years, he lived in Vilna but consistently refused to hold an official rabbinic position that would interfere with his studies. Nevertheless, the Vilna community, considering it an honor to have him in their city, granted him a small monthly stipend for his livelihood.
The Vilna Gaon became famous for his extraordinary diligence. His sons recount that throughout his life, he slept only two hours a day, divided into four half-hour segments, ensuring he never slept more than "Sixty Breaths". He dedicated all his time exclusively to Torah study. His student, Chaim of Volozhin, described how, when he was preoccupied with a Talmudic difficulty, he would refrain from eating for days until he found a resolution, appearing emaciated and afflicted.
Status
The Vilna Gaon attained an extraordinary and undisputed status during his lifetime. Among the general non-Hasidic public, his standing was considered exceptional. He was perceived as belonging to the ranks of the Tannaim and Amoraim, the sages of the Talmud, or as akin to the Geonim of Lower Mesopotamia.Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz wrote:
Due to this reverence, he was referred to by Litvaks simply as "the Gaon."
The Vilna Gaon advocated for a study approach focused on the peshat and was himself widely knowledgeable and erudite. His in-law, the author of Chayei Adam, wrote, "The entire Torah was laid out before him like a set table, so that if he was asked about any matter, he would answer instantaneously."
He opposed pilpul in learning like Maimonides, Judah Loew ben Bezalel, Abraham Isaac Kook, and other sages. In his small study hall, students learned Talmud with the commentaries of Rashi, Asher ben Jehiel, and Isaac Alfasi, in a straightforward manner aimed at reaching halachic conclusions.
The Vilna Gaon was highly original in his halachic rulings. He often ruled according to his own understanding of the Talmud, even against the Rishonim and the Shulchan Aruch, or in opposition to established minhag.
His learning was grounded in a deep pursuit of the literal meaning of the sources, as well as in textual emendations, particularly in less commonly studied works such as the Jerusalem Talmud, the Tosefta, and the Zohar. Despite his historical significance to the Misnagdim, the method of study practiced in contemporary litvak yeshivas differs significantly from his approach. Most of his textual emendations were not based on manuscript evidence available to him but rather on his exceptional mastery of rabbinic and Talmudic literature. In retrospect, many of his emendations have been found to align with accurate textual witnesses.
On the evening following Yom Kippur, the Vilna Gaon would continue fasting for several more hours while studying Torah. He did this based on the teaching of the Chazel:
In other words, the world’s existence depends on uninterrupted Torah study. Since, on the night after Yom Kippur, everyone went home to eat, the Vilna Gaon would continue learning until people finished their meals and returned to study. This idea also served as the foundation of Volozhin Yeshiva, established by his disciple, Chaim of Volozhin.
Kabbalah in his teachings
By the age of nine, the Vilna Gaon knew all of Tanach and Shas with commentaries, and had already begun studying Kabbalah.The Gaon wrote commentaries on the Sifra de-Tzeniuta, which he regarded as the foundational work of Kabbalah, as well as on Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkunei Zohar Chadash, and other sections of the Zohar and the Sefer Yetzirah.
However, unlike other Kabbalists, the Gaon opposed the reception of maggidic revelations, preferring to engage in Torah study and receive divine wisdom directly from God rather than through intermediaries. He also sent his disciple, Chaim of Volozhin, to warn his brother, Shlomo Zalman of Volozhin, not to accept a maggid that was destined to appear to him, explaining that the maggidim of that generation, particularly outside the Land of Israel, "could not possibly be entirely sacred and free of any impurity."
The teachings of the Vilna Gaon in Kabbalah are considered a distinct stream. Many Kabbalists have studied and interpreted them, such as his disciples Chaim of Volozhin in his book Nefesh HaChaim, Moshe of Tolchin, Menachem Mendel of Shklov, and the disciples of his disciples, Yitzhak Isaac Chever, David Luria, Avraham Simcha of Amchislav, Elijah of Kalish, as well as Shlomo Elyashiv in the Leshem Shevo VeAchlamah, Naftali Herz Halevy of Jaffa, and others.
The writings of the Vilna Gaon have been studied in the present day by Yitzhak Shlomo Zilberman, Sraya Dublitzky, Israel Eliyahu Winterob, Yaakov Edes, and Yosef Avivi, who also wrote a book explaining the uniqueness of the Vilna Gaon’s Kabbalah and the differences between it and the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria.
During the struggle between the Hasidim and the Misnagdim, the Hasidim spread a rumor that the Vilna Gaon did not believe in the teachings of Kabbalah and did not read the Zohar or the writings of Isaac Luria. By doing so, they sought to undermined the Gaon’s opposition to Hasidism. The Vilna Gaon’s disciple, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, in his introduction to the Vilna Gaon's commentary on Sifra D’Tzeniuta, sharply criticizes those who spread the rumor, with the following words: