Vilna Gaon - Influence

Influence

He was one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities since the Middle Ages, and—although he is counted as an Acharon—he is held by many authorities after him as belonging to the Rishonim (Rabbinic authorities of the Middle Ages).

His main student Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, founded the first yeshiva in his home town of Volozhin, Belarus. The results of this move revolutionized Torah study, and the results of this process are still felt in Orthodox Jewry.

In accordance with the Vilna Gaon's wishes, three groups of his disciples and their families, numbering over 500, made aliyah to the Land of Israel between 1808 and 1812, a movement documented in Arie Morgenstern's book, Hastening Redemption. This immigration is considered to be the beginning of the modern Jewish settlement in Palestine. These groups of ascetics were called Perushim, meaning "separated", because they separated themselves from worldly pleasures to study the Torah. They originally settled in Safed because the Muslim authorities in Jerusalem prevented settlement by Ashkenazi Jews in that city, but after numerous devastating calamities there, including plague and earthquake, most moved to Jerusalem. Their arrival revived the presence of Ashkenazi Jewry in Jerusalem, which for over 100 years had been mainly Sephardi.

The aliyah of the Perushim has had a widespread and ongoing effect on the Jews in Palestine. They have spread the teachings of the Vilna Gaon, which have had a considerable influence on Jewish thought and religious practice amongst the Ashkenazi community. For example, the widespread custom in Israel not to wear tefillin during Chol Hamoed and the accepted time for the onset of Shabbat in Jerusalem and other cities can be traced to the custom of the Vilna Gaon. They also set up several Kollels, founded the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, and were instrumental in rebuilding the Yehudah Hechassid Synagogue (also known as the Hurba Synagogue, or “The Ruins”), which had lain in ruins for 140 years. The teachings of the Vilna Gaon have strongly influenced the Litvaks in Israel; a prominent Litvak, Rabbi Elazar Shach, helped in the formation of both the Degel HaTorah Party and the Shas Party.

Somewhat ironically, viewed from a traditional light, the leaders of the Haskalah movement used the study methods of the Vilna Gaon to gain adherents to their movement. Maskilim valued his emphasis on peshat over pilpul, his engagement with and mastery of Hebrew grammar and Bible and his interest in textual criticism of rabbinic texts.

There is a statue of the Vilna Gaon and a street named after him in Vilnius, the place of both his birth and his death. His son Abraham was also a scholar of note.