(Gaon of Vilna; also known by the acronym ha-Gra; 1720-1797). Outstanding talmudic scholar. Born at Selets (near Grodno) into a family of prominent rabbis, he received no formal education, studying with his father, and soon proved to be a prodigy, giving a learned discourse at the Great Synagogue of Vilna at the age of six. By the age of 13, he had mastered both talmudic and kabbalistic lore. Married at 18, he traveled extensively and at the age of 25 settled in Vilna, already one of the most important learned communities in Europe. There he lived the life of a recluse on the outskirts of the city. Eventually, a special House of Study was built for him and he received a maintenance grant. By the age of 30 his fame as a scholar had spread throughout the Jewish world.
He continued to live the austere life of a student-recluse to the age of 40, always clad in prayer shawl and tefillin, seeing no one, sleeping no more than two hours a day, noting in his diary any wasted minutes, i.e., not devoted to Torah study. He never held an official position, nor did he correspond with other scholars or write responsa or endorsements as was customary in the community of the learned. Following a talmudic tradition, he emerged from his seclusion at the age of 40, by which time he had written all his works. He then admitted to his presence a select group of disciples (perhaps 20 altogether) all of whom were scholars in their own right.
In addition to the Bible, Halakhah, and
The main target for his uncompromising hostility was ḥasidism, whose influence had begun to extend to Poland and Lithuania, and especially to Vilna. Elijah objected to its sectarianism and to the popularization of Kabbalah, which was seen as superseding halakha. He considered the exaggerated joie de vivre of the Ḥasidim as levity and inimical to the serious study of Torah. With memories of the disastrous Shabbetai Tsevi movement still fresh, the cult of personality around the Tsaddik, the Ḥasidic leader, aroused fears of pseudo-messianism. Essentially, the clash was between an elitist spiritual and intellectual aristocracy and its conception of Judaism and a popular, grass-roots religious movement.
Elijah led a frontal attack against Ḥasidism which led to the closing of their conventicles, the burning of their books, and the repeated imposition of a ḥerem (Excommunication) against the new "sect." He refused to meet the Ḥasidic leaders Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk and Shneur Zalman of Lyady, who wished to explain to Elijah the true nature of their movement and saw the conflict as a huge misunderstanding. While the Gaon's opposition restricted the movement's spread in the short run and turned most Lithuanian Jews into Mitnaggedim (oppositionists), in the long run Ḥasidism could not be suppressed. It became a powerful component of Orthodox Judaism.
The Gaon's major achievement was the new impulse he gave to the study of the Bible and the Talmud and cognate literature. Opposing the sophistries of Pilpul, he stressed the close and critical study of the talmudic text in the light of parallels and quotations by earlier authorities. This approach earned him the title of "father of Talmud criticism." He applied the dual methods of Peshat (literal meaning) and Derash (hermeneutics), normally associated with Bible interpretation, to his study of the Mishnah, and he devoted much attention to the rather neglected Palestinian Talmud (Yerushalmi). He considered both the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmuds of equal importance; together with the Bible itself, they formed a Divinely revealed whole. Kabbalah, to which he applied the same rigorous methodology as to Bible and Talmud, was a part of this holistic concept of Torah.
Toward the end of his life, he set out for the Land of Israel but for unexplained reasons he soon returned to Vilna. He encouraged his pupils to immigrate, which they did about a decade after his death.
The distinctive prayer customs and readings of the Gaon were collected by his pupil Issachar Baer in his compendium Ma'aseh Rav. These form the basis of the Siddur ha-Gra, a prayer book associated with his name and tradition that is still in use.
He left 70 books and commentaries, 50 of which were published posthumously. For the most part, his work took the form of annotations/commentaries on Bible, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, halakhic Midrashim, early kabbalistic works, and Joseph Caro's Shulḥan Arukh. In Halakhah he usually adopted a strict approach and tried to revive talmudic laws and customs which had fallen into disuse. His annotations are now to be found in standard editions of the Talmud.
