R. Eliyahu of Vilna (Vilna Gaon – GR"A)

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Vilna Gaon
Name
R. Eliyahu b. Shelomo Zalman, Vilna Gaon
ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן, הגר"א
Dates1720-1797
LocationLithuania
WorksAderet Eliyahu on Tanakh, Beur HaGRA
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by
Impacted on

Background1

Life

  • Name – 
    • Hebrew name – ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן2
    • _ name – 
  • Dates – 1720-1797
  • Location – Born in Selets, Grodno province, lived most of his life in Vilna.3
  • Education – To say the GRA was a child prodigy would be an understatement, based on various reports of amazing incidents in his youth.4 From a young age, the GRA studied mainly on his own, always with great diligence and fortitude.5
  • Intellectual pursuits –
    • The GRA’s interests and teachings encompassed the entire world of Torah, both exoteric and esoteric.6
    • He studied secular subjects such as algebra, geometry, astronomy, medicine, and music theory,7 and valued such fields as providing assistance in understanding the Torah.8 In contrast, he had a rather negative view of philosophy.9
  • Occupation
    • The GRA led a life of secluded study until the age of forty,10 when he started lecturing to a group of elite Torah scholars who became his close disciples, and began assuming a communal leadership role.11
    • One of his main endeavors as a leader was to oppose the emerging Chassidic movement, and it was the GRA himself who was the main driving force behind the anti-Chassidic campaign.12
    • In practice, though not in any official capacity, the GRA became the spiritual leader of Lithuanian Jewry.
    • At some point before 1783, the GRA set out for Eretz Yisrael, intending to send for his family later. However, he never reached his destination – for unknown reasons13 – and returned to Vilna.14 Nevertheless, he famously encouraged his students to emigrate to Eretz Yisrael, and it was a group of his students and their families who comprised one of the first major waves of modern Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael.15
  • Family – The GRA came from a well-known rabbinical family. He married his first wife Channah around the age of eighteen. After she died in 1782, he married Gitel. He had three sons16 and four daughters, all from his first wife.17
  • Teachers – R. Moshe Margolioth of Keidany18
  • Contemporaries – R. Yonatan Eybeschuetz,19 R. Yaakov Emden, R. Yaakov Krantz (the Maggid of Dubno)20
  • Students – R. Chayyim of Volozhin, the brothers R. Menachem Mendel and R. Simchah Bunem of Shklov, R. Yisrael of Shklov,21 R. Menashe of Ilia, R. Barukh of Shklov, R. Hillel Rivlin of Shklov22
  • Time period – 
  • World outlook – 

Works23

  • Biblical commentaries – 
    • Much of the GRA’s biblical commentary was published under the name Aderet Eliyahu,24 with one volume covering the Pentateuch,25 and another26 including partial commentaries to Yehoshua, Shofetim, Shemuel, Melakhim, Yeshayahu,27 Yechezkel,28 Hoshea, Yonah, Nachum, Chavakkuk, Iyyov, and Divrei HaYamim, as well as a chronology of the kings, and a discussion of the description of the Third Temple in Yechezkel.
    • Commentaries to Esther,29 Rut, and Shir HaShirim,30 have been published,31 as well as commentaries to Eikhah32 and Mishlei.33 
    • A compilation of comments on the Torah, collected from all of the GRA’s works, was published as MiPerushei HaGRA Al HaTorah,34 and a similar compilation of the GRA’s comments on verses in Tehillim was published as Be’urei HaGRA LeTehillim.35 
    • Other works containing biblical commentaries by the GRA include:
      - 36ברק השחר
      - צורת הארץ לגבולותיה סביב ותכנית בית המקדש מספר מלכים ומספר יחזקאל37
      - נבואת חבקוק עם פירוש רבנו אליהו מוילנא38
      - ביאור על כ"ח עתים של קהלת ג39
      - A small section of commentary to Kohelet40
      - 41ביאור לתפילת חנה בספר שמואל
      - 42ליקוטי הגר"א מכת"י
      - 43פירוש הגר"א לתהלים קי"ד
    • There are several published lists of citations where the GRA discusses apparent biblical synonyms – see the list published in Barak Hashachar (see above), one published as שמות הנרדפים מהגר"א44, and the list compiled by M. Tzuriel (Otzerot: 253 ff.).
  • Rabbinics – 
    • Commentaries on Rabbinic literature – Commentaries of the GRA to the Mishnah have been published under the name Shenot Eliyahu.45 The GRA also wrote commentaries and glosses46 on the Babylonian Talmud,47 the Jerusalem Talmud,48 the Midreshei Halakhah,49 parts of the Tosefta, aggadot of the Talmud,50 Seder Olam, the Minor Tractates, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Pesikta, the Haggadah51 (and Chad Gadya).
    • Halakhic codes – Be’ur HaGRA,52 and novellae on Mishneh Torah and Piskei HaRosh53
    • Kabbalah – The GRA wrote commentaries to many Kabbalistic works, including: Sefer Yetzirah,54 Sifra DeTzniuta,55 Zohar,56 Tikkunei HaZohar,57 Ra’aya Meheimna,58 and Sefer HaBahir.59
    • Other works – Iggeret HaGRA,60 Dikduk Eliyahu,61 Dikdukei Torah,62 Ayil Meshullash63
    • Responses to the works of others – 
    • Responsa – 
  • Jewish thought – 
  • Misattributed works – 

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

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Textual Issues

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Sources

Significant Influences

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Occasional Usage

Possible Relationship

Impact

Later exegetes

Supercommentaries

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