The Vilna
Gaon - Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna
(1720 -
1797)
The word "gaon" means genius and on no
person could this title be more appropriately bestowed than on Rabbi Eliyahu of
Vilna. Rabbi Eliyahu was probably the most influential Jewish leader in modern
history.
Rabbi Eliyahu's great abilities began to show at a
very early age. At the age of seven he gave his first public discourse and
displayed a fully developed intellect. By the time he was ten he had advanced
to the point where he no longer needed a teacher. When he was still a young
man, Rabbi Eliyahu accepted upon himself "galus," self-imposed
exile (a not unheard of practice at that time), in which he wandered from
community to community as a beggar. This lasted for a period of some years
whereupon he returned to the city of Vilna. Despite efforts on his part to hide
his great righteousness and phenomenal knowledge, he was soon famed as a great tzadik
(righteous man) and Torah scholar. At the age of 35 he was approached
by one of the leading sages of that time, Rabbi Yonason Eybschutz, to act as an
intermediary in the conflict between him and another great sage, Rabbi Yakov
Emden.
To the Gaon, limud haTorah (the study of
Torah) was of paramount importance and this ethic was fully displayed on his
part. His diligence in learning was unsurpassable. The Gaon's son testified
that for fifty years his father did not sleep for more than two hours in a
twenty-four hour period. His breadth of knowledge was amazing. He was capable
of stating from memory the number of times any sage was mentioned in any
particular book of the Talmud. His knowledge of both the revealed and
the hidden parts of the Torah was beyond compare. The Gaon considered secular
knowledge to be a vital adjunct to Torah study. He was knowledgeable in almost
all secular fields and authored books on grammar and mathematics.
His righteousness and kindness were also legendary.
Despite his personal poverty he always gave 20% of his income to charity. When
informed of a special need such as marrying off an orphan girl or redeeming a
captive, he would frequently deduct money from his personal needs to
contribute. Despite his constant diligence in learning he always kept an ear
out for people in need and was known to interrupt his studies in order to meet
with relatives of a person in need to convince them to help their relative out.
There is a story of the Gaon which illustrates the
kind of kindness he was capable of. The city of Vilna paid a small monthly
stipend to the Gaon. (It should be noted that the Gaon refused to accept any
official position in the community despite the fact that he was generally
viewed as the leader of the community.) The individual who was responsible for
delivering this money would take this money for himself. The Gaon, who realized
what was happening, never accused him of doing this nor told anyone of it
because he did not want to shame the person responsible. Indeed, we would not
even know of this incident if the guilty person had not confessed on his
deathbed.
For forty years he studied in isolation, from that
point on he began to take in students from the outstanding Torah scholars of
that time. Most of the writings we have today from the Gaon were transcribed by
these students. One of the most famous of the Gaon's students was Rabbi Chaim of Volozhim, founder of the Volozhiner Yeshiva. This yeshiva (Talmudical
academy) was the premier center of Torah study for about 100 years and is the
ancestor of most of the yeshivas that exist today.
Possibly the Gaon's single biggest contribution to
the Jewish people was his corrective notes on most of our ancient texts,
particularly the Talmud. Over the centuries errors had crept into the various
texts due primarily to scribal mistakes. (We are talking here about ancient
texts other than the Torah itself. The rules for writing the Torah are
so strict that scribal error is nearly impossible and extraordinarily rare.
Such mistakes as do occur rarely go unnoticed long enough to be duplicated into
other scrolls.) These errors were serious obstacles to advanced study of the
Talmud and other texts. The Gaon, with his phenomenal knowledge of the entirety
of the Torah literature, was possibly the only individual capable of creating
authoritative corrections of these texts. There is almost no ancient Torah text
that does not bear the notes of the Gaon.
For many years the Gaon desired to travel to the
land of Israel and settle there. The Gaon actually
began the traveling at one point but was unable to complete the trip (the
reason for this is unclear). It was during this trip that the Gaon wrote his
famous letter back to his wife instructing her on various ethical issues such
as educating their children during their separation. This letter has become a
classic in it's own right. Ultimately, about ten years after the Gaon passed
away, many of his leading students followed in their master's footsteps and
settled in the land of Israel.
The Gaon was the leading opponent of Chassidus, a movement founded by Rabbi Yisrael Baal shem Tov in the 1730s
(approximately). The Chassidim instituted a number of changes in standard
Jewish practice and many great leaders viewed them as
a nascent breakaway sect from true Judaism in the manner of similar movements
in the past. The emphasis of Chassidus on mysticism was particularly worrisome
in this regard. Chassidus also placed a very strong emphasis on fervent worship.
While this is well within the boundaries of traditional Judaism, many of the opponents of Chassidus,
called "Misnagdim," misunderstood this emphasis as detracting
from the importance of Torah study. (This error was not without basis;
unfortunately, many Chassidim (followers of Chassidus) also fell into this
error.) The reasons behind this great controversy are complex and it is really
not possible to do justice to them in a short essay. To all intents and
purposes the controversy ended in the early 1800s with the introduction of the
anti-religious Haskalah movement which created a need for all religious
Jews to form a common front.
Despite the Gaon's opposition to Chassidus he was
widely recognized by all groups as the leading torah authority of his time.
Indeed, when after the Gaon passed away certain individual Chasidim expressed
happiness at the news of his death, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, one of the most
prominent leaders of Chassidus at that time, issued a public letter forbidding
such statements and requiring his followers to speak of the greatness of the
Gaon.
The Gaon passed away in 1797 leaving behind a
tremendous legacy, both from his vast and varied writings on all Torah subjects
and from his outstanding students who went on to spread Torah throughout the
people of Israel.
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