Vilna gaon biography definition

Polish-Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudist (1720–1797)

Elijah ben Solomon Zalman,^[1] (Hebrew: ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמןRabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman), also known as the Vilna Gaon^[2] (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאוןDer Vilner Goen; Polish: Gaon z Wilna, Gaon Wileński; or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronymGra ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 1720 – Vilnius October 9, 1797), was a Lithuanian JewishTalmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of misnagdic (non-hasidic) Jewry of the past few centuries.^[3][4][5] He is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha-Gaon mi-Vilna, "the genius from Vilnius".^[6]

Through his annotations and emendations of Talmudic and other texts, he became one of the most familiar and influential figures in rabbinic study since the Middle Ages.

Although he is chronologically one of the Acharonim, some have consi