Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines how the persecuted Hasidim regard their persecutor and how did the Hasidic leaders explain to themselves and to their flocks the fact that their chief opponent, Vilna Gaon, was ...
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This chapter examines how the persecuted Hasidim regard their persecutor and how did the Hasidic leaders explain to themselves and to their flocks the fact that their chief opponent, Vilna Gaon, was the greatest scholar of their generation. It analyzes the letters written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady. The findings reveal that Zalman's response to the role played by the Vilna Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism was dual. While he acknowledged the Gaon's eminence as the greatest scholar of his day, he also challenged his authority to determine that Hasidism was a heresy.Less
This chapter examines how the persecuted Hasidim regard their persecutor and how did the Hasidic leaders explain to themselves and to their flocks the fact that their chief opponent, Vilna Gaon, was the greatest scholar of their generation. It analyzes the letters written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady. The findings reveal that Zalman's response to the role played by the Vilna Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism was dual. While he acknowledged the Gaon's eminence as the greatest scholar of his day, he also challenged his authority to determine that Hasidism was a heresy.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter deals with the myth of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil among both proponents and opponents of Haskalah. It traces this myth as reflected in the historiography of the Haskalah movement and ...
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This chapter deals with the myth of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil among both proponents and opponents of Haskalah. It traces this myth as reflected in the historiography of the Haskalah movement and shows that the matter of the Gaon and Haskalah is an instructive example of the continuity between Haskalah literature of the nineteenth century and Jewish historiography of the end of that century and the first half of the next. It discusses the image of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil as a weapon in the hands of Orthodox Judaism and evaluates the influence of the Vilna Gaon on the growth of the Haskalah movement in Lithuania.Less
This chapter deals with the myth of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil among both proponents and opponents of Haskalah. It traces this myth as reflected in the historiography of the Haskalah movement and shows that the matter of the Gaon and Haskalah is an instructive example of the continuity between Haskalah literature of the nineteenth century and Jewish historiography of the end of that century and the first half of the next. It discusses the image of the Vilna Gaon as a maskil as a weapon in the hands of Orthodox Judaism and evaluates the influence of the Vilna Gaon on the growth of the Haskalah movement in Lithuania.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
A legendary figure in his own lifetime, Rabbi Eliahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720–1797) was known as the “Gaon of Vilna”. He was the acknowledged master of Talmudic studies in the vibrant intellectual ...
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A legendary figure in his own lifetime, Rabbi Eliahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720–1797) was known as the “Gaon of Vilna”. He was the acknowledged master of Talmudic studies in the vibrant intellectual center of Vilna, revered throughout Eastern Europe for his learning and his ability to traverse with ease seemingly opposed domains of thought and activity. After his death, the myth that had been woven around him became even more powerful and was expressed in various public images. The formation of these images was influenced as much by the needs and wishes of those who clung to and depended on them as by the actual figure of the Gaon. This book sheds light on aspects of the Vilna Gaon's “real” character and traces several public images of him as they have developed and spread from the early nineteenth century until the present day.Less
A legendary figure in his own lifetime, Rabbi Eliahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720–1797) was known as the “Gaon of Vilna”. He was the acknowledged master of Talmudic studies in the vibrant intellectual center of Vilna, revered throughout Eastern Europe for his learning and his ability to traverse with ease seemingly opposed domains of thought and activity. After his death, the myth that had been woven around him became even more powerful and was expressed in various public images. The formation of these images was influenced as much by the needs and wishes of those who clung to and depended on them as by the actual figure of the Gaon. This book sheds light on aspects of the Vilna Gaon's “real” character and traces several public images of him as they have developed and spread from the early nineteenth century until the present day.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses various aspects of the controversy between the Hasidism and the Mitnagdim and evaluates the role of Vilna Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism. The findings contradict the ...
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This chapter discusses various aspects of the controversy between the Hasidism and the Mitnagdim and evaluates the role of Vilna Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism. The findings contradict the view that the struggle against Hasidism began as an initiative of the oligarchy, and that the Gaon merely served as a figurehead that the establishment was pleased to use. The result reveals that the basic motives underlying the struggle against Hasidism were spiritual and religious, and not political and social.Less
This chapter discusses various aspects of the controversy between the Hasidism and the Mitnagdim and evaluates the role of Vilna Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism. The findings contradict the view that the struggle against Hasidism began as an initiative of the oligarchy, and that the Gaon merely served as a figurehead that the establishment was pleased to use. The result reveals that the basic motives underlying the struggle against Hasidism were spiritual and religious, and not political and social.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes the unusual distinction of the Gaon of Vilna's achievements as a Torah scholar, a distinction that made him a symbol and model of greatness in Torah scholarship in the eyes of ...
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This chapter describes the unusual distinction of the Gaon of Vilna's achievements as a Torah scholar, a distinction that made him a symbol and model of greatness in Torah scholarship in the eyes of his disciples and in the eyes of many others. It attempts to reconstruct the figure of the Gaon as it was conceived and interpreted by those few who saw his face based on the introductions written by the Gaon's two sons and a few of his students to his posthumously published works. The analysis reveals that in various ways the Gaon's disciples and sons expressed their conviction that before them was a person of superhuman dimensions and that the sum of his writings represented merely a drop of the sea of his wisdom.Less
This chapter describes the unusual distinction of the Gaon of Vilna's achievements as a Torah scholar, a distinction that made him a symbol and model of greatness in Torah scholarship in the eyes of his disciples and in the eyes of many others. It attempts to reconstruct the figure of the Gaon as it was conceived and interpreted by those few who saw his face based on the introductions written by the Gaon's two sons and a few of his students to his posthumously published works. The analysis reveals that in various ways the Gaon's disciples and sons expressed their conviction that before them was a person of superhuman dimensions and that the sum of his writings represented merely a drop of the sea of his wisdom.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Rabbi Eliyahu, the son of Shlomo Zalman, known as the Gaon of Vilna. This book provides descriptions of the Gaon written ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Rabbi Eliyahu, the son of Shlomo Zalman, known as the Gaon of Vilna. This book provides descriptions of the Gaon written by his sons and several of his disciples and examines the works of Gaon in relation to the Haskalah, Hasidism, and Mitnagdim. It also discusses Talmudic scholarship and the rabbinate in Lithuanian Jewry during the nineteenth century and explains the thought and practice of the Vilna Gaon.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Rabbi Eliyahu, the son of Shlomo Zalman, known as the Gaon of Vilna. This book provides descriptions of the Gaon written by his sons and several of his disciples and examines the works of Gaon in relation to the Haskalah, Hasidism, and Mitnagdim. It also discusses Talmudic scholarship and the rabbinate in Lithuanian Jewry during the nineteenth century and explains the thought and practice of the Vilna Gaon.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses Vilna Gaon's outlook and practice regarding the relationship between the value of Torah study and that of yira. It describes the character and purpose of the Gaon's ascetic ...
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This chapter discusses Vilna Gaon's outlook and practice regarding the relationship between the value of Torah study and that of yira. It describes the character and purpose of the Gaon's ascetic withdrawal and attempts to clarify his conception of the reciprocal relations and correct equilibrium between the value of yira and that of Torah study. It highlights the influence of the Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism and the flourishing of the world of Torah in Lithuania.Less
This chapter discusses Vilna Gaon's outlook and practice regarding the relationship between the value of Torah study and that of yira. It describes the character and purpose of the Gaon's ascetic withdrawal and attempts to clarify his conception of the reciprocal relations and correct equilibrium between the value of yira and that of Torah study. It highlights the influence of the Gaon in the struggle against Hasidism and the flourishing of the world of Torah in Lithuania.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the controversy between Mitnagdim and Hasidim focusing on Rabbi H. Hayyim of Volozhin's response to Hasidism. Hayyim waged the struggle against Hasidism in a style entirely ...
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This chapter discusses the controversy between Mitnagdim and Hasidim focusing on Rabbi H. Hayyim of Volozhin's response to Hasidism. Hayyim waged the struggle against Hasidism in a style entirely different from that initiated and led by his teacher and master, Vilna Gaon. It explains that while Vilna Gaon waged an unrelenting war to eliminate the deviant sect, Hayyim chose to struggle against Hasidism on the plane of ideas and education. It also discusses Hayyim's realization that Hasidim were not heretics and their motives were pure and his establishment of the Volozhin yeshiva.Less
This chapter discusses the controversy between Mitnagdim and Hasidim focusing on Rabbi H. Hayyim of Volozhin's response to Hasidism. Hayyim waged the struggle against Hasidism in a style entirely different from that initiated and led by his teacher and master, Vilna Gaon. It explains that while Vilna Gaon waged an unrelenting war to eliminate the deviant sect, Hayyim chose to struggle against Hasidism on the plane of ideas and education. It also discusses Hayyim's realization that Hasidim were not heretics and their motives were pure and his establishment of the Volozhin yeshiva.
Eliyahu Stern
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300179309
- eISBN:
- 9780300183221
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300179309.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
Elijah ben Solomon, the “Genius of Vilna,” was perhaps the best-known and most understudied figure in modern Jewish history. This book offers a new narrative of Jewish modernity based on Elijah's ...
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Elijah ben Solomon, the “Genius of Vilna,” was perhaps the best-known and most understudied figure in modern Jewish history. This book offers a new narrative of Jewish modernity based on Elijah's life and influence. While the experience of Jews in modernity has often been described as a process of Western European secularization—with Jews becoming citizens of Western nation-states, congregants of reformed synagogues, and assimilated members of society—the book uses Elijah's story to highlight a different theory of modernization for European life. Religious movements such as Hasidism and anti-secular institutions such as the yeshiva emerged from the same democratization of knowledge and privatization of religion that gave rise to secular and universal movements and institutions. Claimed by traditionalists, enlighteners, Zionists, and the Orthodox, Elijah's genius and its afterlife capture an all-embracing interpretation of the modern Jewish experience. Through the story of the “Vilna Gaon,” the book presents a new model for understanding modern Jewish history and more generally the place of traditionalism and religious radicalism in modern Western life and thought.Less
Elijah ben Solomon, the “Genius of Vilna,” was perhaps the best-known and most understudied figure in modern Jewish history. This book offers a new narrative of Jewish modernity based on Elijah's life and influence. While the experience of Jews in modernity has often been described as a process of Western European secularization—with Jews becoming citizens of Western nation-states, congregants of reformed synagogues, and assimilated members of society—the book uses Elijah's story to highlight a different theory of modernization for European life. Religious movements such as Hasidism and anti-secular institutions such as the yeshiva emerged from the same democratization of knowledge and privatization of religion that gave rise to secular and universal movements and institutions. Claimed by traditionalists, enlighteners, Zionists, and the Orthodox, Elijah's genius and its afterlife capture an all-embracing interpretation of the modern Jewish experience. Through the story of the “Vilna Gaon,” the book presents a new model for understanding modern Jewish history and more generally the place of traditionalism and religious radicalism in modern Western life and thought.
Immanuel Etkes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223943
- eISBN:
- 9780520925076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223943.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the relations between Torah scholarship and the institution of the rabbinate in nineteenth-century Lithuania. It discusses the apparent contradiction between the ideal of Torah ...
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This chapter examines the relations between Torah scholarship and the institution of the rabbinate in nineteenth-century Lithuania. It discusses the apparent contradiction between the ideal of Torah lishma and the rabbinate and analyzes the roles played by the heritage of the Vilna Gaon and that of Rabbi Hayyim in shaping the ideal of Torah study. This analysis is based on the biographies of rabbis written by their descendants or their admiring students, and the personal letters of traditional scholars.Less
This chapter examines the relations between Torah scholarship and the institution of the rabbinate in nineteenth-century Lithuania. It discusses the apparent contradiction between the ideal of Torah lishma and the rabbinate and analyzes the roles played by the heritage of the Vilna Gaon and that of Rabbi Hayyim in shaping the ideal of Torah study. This analysis is based on the biographies of rabbis written by their descendants or their admiring students, and the personal letters of traditional scholars.
Sergey Dolgopolski
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823229345
- eISBN:
- 9780823236725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823229345.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter addresses the question: What is Talmud? According to Gaon, the Talmud originated from a project of emending the printed Talmudic texts based on considerations of his own and others' ...
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This chapter addresses the question: What is Talmud? According to Gaon, the Talmud originated from a project of emending the printed Talmudic texts based on considerations of his own and others' intellectual experience of Talmudic learning. In the 19th century, the Vilna Gaon's view on the Talmud won another continuation. The book of the Talmud therefore became a source for Jewish culture. However, the neo-Kantian, cultural-historical, universalistic view of the Talmud as a book had not only a philosophical manifestation, but a philological one as well. This time the Talmud emerged as a cultural-historical object, belonging only and exclusively to its authentic historical period which was during late antiquity.Less
This chapter addresses the question: What is Talmud? According to Gaon, the Talmud originated from a project of emending the printed Talmudic texts based on considerations of his own and others' intellectual experience of Talmudic learning. In the 19th century, the Vilna Gaon's view on the Talmud won another continuation. The book of the Talmud therefore became a source for Jewish culture. However, the neo-Kantian, cultural-historical, universalistic view of the Talmud as a book had not only a philosophical manifestation, but a philological one as well. This time the Talmud emerged as a cultural-historical object, belonging only and exclusively to its authentic historical period which was during late antiquity.
Lee Shai Weissbach
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780804783637
- eISBN:
- 9780804786201
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804783637.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
In the second chapter of his memoir, Menachem Mendel Frieden con- tinues telling about his background, this time focusing on his mother’s family. This chapter, like the preceding one, again provides ...
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In the second chapter of his memoir, Menachem Mendel Frieden con- tinues telling about his background, this time focusing on his mother’s family. This chapter, like the preceding one, again provides insights into matters of East European Jewish life more generally. Here, for example, there is further reference to the world of Hasidism, with a long reflection on the use of the word hasid early in the chapter and with much discussion of the way Hasidism faced opposition in Eastern Europe, especially from mainstream Orthodox Jews. In this chapter Frieden also illuminates the nature of traditional Jewish education, he writes of the attempts of Jews to avoid military service in the tsar’s army, and he provides an indication of the dispersion of Lithuanian Jews to various corners of the world.Less
In the second chapter of his memoir, Menachem Mendel Frieden con- tinues telling about his background, this time focusing on his mother’s family. This chapter, like the preceding one, again provides insights into matters of East European Jewish life more generally. Here, for example, there is further reference to the world of Hasidism, with a long reflection on the use of the word hasid early in the chapter and with much discussion of the way Hasidism faced opposition in Eastern Europe, especially from mainstream Orthodox Jews. In this chapter Frieden also illuminates the nature of traditional Jewish education, he writes of the attempts of Jews to avoid military service in the tsar’s army, and he provides an indication of the dispersion of Lithuanian Jews to various corners of the world.
