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The Gaon of Vilna: The Man and His Image

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This set of essays discusses a wide variety of issues, starting with the Gaon of Vilna himself and then discussing the work of his disciple Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin.

The first and last essays focus on the Gaon himself, trying to explain why this man was so influential. Apparently, he combined charisma with excellent memory, intellectual effort and almost infinite persistence. And while other rabbis relied primarily on medieval codifiers of Jewish law, he evaluated the Talmud on its own merits, feeling free to reject the halachic views of later commentators. But unlike other Jewish genuises (such as Maimonides, who combined halachic writings with a commitment to community leadership, philosophy and medicine) he was a recluse: he practiced (and preached) the idea of ascetic withdrawal in order to focus on Torah study, so much so that he spent little time with his children or other scholars. Perhaps his ascetism and reclusiveness increased his prestige by making him seem like the model of a holy man.

But these essays raise questions that they fail to answer. Why are so few of the Gaon's works translated into English? And even in Hebrew, was he as productive as the more well-known medieval scholars? And did he think about how Jewish society could function if its brightest rabbis were hermits?

Other essays discuss the Gaon's attempt to wipe out Hasidim; Etkes tries to explain both what really happened and how Hasidic leaders responded to his conduct. Apparently, the Gaon had heard rumors that the early Hasids behaved wildly during prayer and expressed contempt towards Torah scholars. Rather than being willing to speak with Hasids and hear their point of view, the Gaon suggested that they were heretics and urged other Jews to shun them. However, Hasidic leaders were relatively restrained in their reaction to such conduct, because of the Gaon's prestige.

A later essay discusses Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin, one of the Gaon's disciples. Rabbi Hayyim did not seek to read Hasids out of Judaism, but nevertheless disagreed with them. His view was that one cleaves to God primarily through Torah study; by contrast, the more moderate Hasidim certainly favored Torah study, but emphasized prayer perhaps more than did Rabbi Hayyim. And because the Hasidim emphasized the value of "Torah study for the sake of cleaving to God", Rabbi Hayyim worried that young students would be afraid to study Torah at all out of a fear that they were doing so for the wrong motives.