Elijah ben Solomon Zalman

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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.

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