The Gaon of Vilna: The Man and His Image

by Immanuel Etkes, Jeffrey Green (Translator)

A legendary figure in his own lifetime, Rabbi Eliahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797) was known as the "Gaon of Vilna." He was the acknowledged master of Talmudic studies in the vibrant intellectual center of Vilna, revered throughout Eastern Europe for his learning and his ability to traverse with ease seemingly opposed domains of thought and activity. After his death, the myth that had been woven around him became even more powerful and was expressed in various public images. The formation of these images was influenced as much by the needs and wishes of those who clung to and depended on them as by the actual figure of the Gaon. In this penetrating study, Immanuel Etkes sheds light on aspects of the Vilna Gaon's "real" character and traces several public images of him as they have developed and spread from the early nineteenth century until the present.

Genres: Jewish, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2002

Reviews

[Ruti]

Interesting, but it left out a lot of relevant things. This book gives the impression that the Vilna Gaon was universally admired and deferred to, omitting the perspectives of non-scholars (who at times objected to the community's financial support of him). It also focuses much more on the hasidic movement and opposition to it than on the Vilna Gaon per se.