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Modern Rabbinic Historiography and the Legacy of Elijah of Vilna: A Review Essay

Only one person has been considered the forefather of the Mitnaged movement, modern religious Zionism, Wissenschaft, and the modern yeshiva. Ironically, he was a social hermit who stayed in his house studying with a handful of students. Even more shocking, he would probably never have identified with any of the above mentioned groups. He is Elijah Ben Solomon (1720–1797), known as the GRA, the Talmudist, Kabbalist, and saint of modern Eastern European Jewry. The GRA’s leadership was unique in Jewish history. Never before has there been a figure whom so much has been written about and spoken of and yet who had so little to do with the Jewish people at large. The GRA was not a communal leader or a legal decider. Rarely, if ever, did he speak to the masses, learn with them, or even teach people. His role was that of an Eved Hashem (servant of God). Such a position was not uncommon to European Jewish communities in the eighteenth century. It was given to those special scholars whose nonstop studying was seen as the spiritual pillar that upheld the community. Being an Eved Hashem allowed the GRA the opportunity to create an alternate universe of text and interpretation. Letters, lacunae, manuscripts, and commentaries constituted the bedrock of his worldview. Membership in the elite society surrounding the GRA required that one be proficient in Jewish study. Because so few people had access to or could comprehend the textual world in which he lived, the GRA’s world was sealed off from most people. Nonetheless, because of his brilliance and even more importantly his ability to analyze material through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the GRA was able to attract a broad range of students. Some were interested in botany and Jewish tithes; others had an intellectual predisposition to Kabbalah and the study of Jewish mystical text. And there were those who specialized in