Elijah ben Solomon

Elijah ben Solomon 1720-97, Jewish scholar, called the Gaon of Vilna, b. Lithuania. A leading Jewish scholar of his time, he opposed the spread of Hasidism in Lithuania and Poland because he feared that the creation of these new groups would weaken the Jewish community. His many influential works include commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, the Mishna and Talmud, Midrash, and the kabbalah. He upheld the primacy of Torah study and the halakah, which he held as being of supreme importance for Jewish life.

Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720–97). The Vilna Gaon, known as Ha-Gra, a Lithuanian Jewish spiritual leader. He was famous for his great learning and produced more than seventy works and commentaries on the Bible, the Talmud, the midrashim, the Zohar, Shulḥān Arukh, on Hebrew grammar, and on scientific subjects. He was a brilliant halakhist, and was also devoted to the study of Kabbalah. Philosophy he regarded as ‘accursed’, and he opposed all changes in customs and liturgy. Ḥasidism was rejected because he believed its emphasis on the love of God undermined the value of the Torah.