Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman

Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or the Gra, was a prominent 18th-century rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist. Born in 1720 in Sielec, then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Belarus), he was recognized from a young age for his prodigious intellect in religious studies. The Vilna Gaon was largely self-taught and eschewed formal yeshiva education for independent study. He became a leading figure in Jewish life, advocating for a rigorous analysis of Talmudic texts and opposing the Hasidic movement, which he felt strayed from traditional Jewish law and scholarship. His works and commentaries on Jewish law, the Bible, and the Talmud have had a lasting impact on Jewish thought and are studied to this day.

Books

אבן שלמה להגר"א