After the Gaon affirmed this, he was asked where the commandment of pidyon haben was alluded to and the Gaon replied that it was in the word Bereishit, the Hebrew initials which stand for Ben Rishon Achar Sheloshim Yom Tifdeh or " a firstborn son after thirty days redeem ".

Rabbi Yaakov Emden ( d. 1776 ) elaborated on the story in a book published in 1748: " As an aside, I ’ ll mention here what I heard from my father ’ s holy mouth regarding the Golem created by his ancestor, the Gaon R. Eliyahu Ba ’ al Shem of blessed memory.

Rabbi Chaim Volozhin ( Lithuania 1749 – 1821 ) reports in an introduction to Siphra Dzeniouta ( 1818 ) that he once presented to his teacher, the Vilna Gaon, ten different versions of a certain passage in the Sefer Yetzira and asked the Gaon to determine the correct text.

As far as we know, the Vilna Gaon is the only Rabbi who has actually claimed that he tried to create a Golem ; all such stories about other rabbis were told after their time.

Rabbi Nissim Gaon in his Hakdamah Le ' mafteach Hatalmud writes that many of these laws were so well known that it was unnecessary for Rabbi Judah to discuss them.

The Talmud records a tradition that unattributed statements of the law represent the views of Rabbi Meir ( Sanhedrin 86a ), which supports the theory ( recorded by Rav Sherira Gaon in his famous Iggeret ) that he was the author of an earlier collection.

In the Ashkenazi community of Eastern Europe, later religious authorities including the Vilna Gaon ( d. 1797 ) and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi ( d. 1812 ) ( The Baal HaTanya ) believed in the authenticity of the Zohar.

Organised Torah study was revolutionised by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon ( an influential 18th century leader of Judaism ).

; 1720 – 1797: Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon.

In the Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods the tefillin were worn by rabbis and scholars all day, and a special tallit was worn at prayer ; hence they put on the tefillin before the tallit, as appears in the order given in " Seder Rabbi Amram Gaon " ( p. 2a ) and in the Zohar.

Whilst the Mishnah Berurah and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein recommend wearing a woolen garment in accordance with the Shulchan Aruch's ruling, the Chazon Ish was known to wear cotton, in accordance with the ruling of the Vilna Gaon.

A wealth of later works include commentary and exposition by such halachic authorities as the Ketzoth ha-Choshen and Avnei Millu ' im, Netivoth ha-Mishpat, the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau ( Dagul Mervavah ), Rabbis Akiva Eger, Moses Sofer, and Chaim Joseph David Azulai ( Birkei Yosef ) whose works are widely recognized and cited extensively in later halachic literature.

Rabbi Yehudai Gaon of Sura ( 760 CE ), author of the Halakot Pesukot, forbade the study of the Nedarim, the Talmudic treatise on oaths.

He received separate rabbinical ordinations from both the Rogatchover Gaon, Yosef Rosen, and from Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg ( also known as the Sridei Aish ).

Various pillars of Hutner's thought system were likely the works of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah, ( 1720 – 1797 ) and of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ( 1707 – 1746 ).

The controversy was a momentous incident in Jewish history of the period, involving both Rabbi Yechezkel Landau and the Vilna Gaon, and may be credited with having crushed the lingering belief in Sabbatai current even in some Orthodox circles.

# A person's main Rosh Yeshiva such as the Rebbe's " Little Gaon " Rabbi Goldberg Rosh Yeshivah of Hadar HaTorah of Crown Heights Brooklyn New York, May He Live many long and healthy years ... or mentor, who teaches him / her Torah and gives guidance, is referred to as " my Rebbe ".

In 1797 following the death of the Gaon, leaders of the Vilna community falsely accused the Hasidim of subversive activities-on charges of supporting the Ottoman Empire, since Rabbi Shneur Zalman advocated sending charity to support Jews living in the Ottoman territory of Palestine.

The Maggid's pupils Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi tried to visit the Vilna Gaon to bring about reconciliation, but the Vilna Gaon declined to meet them.

Rabbi Chaim Volozhin was the chief follower and disciple of the Vilna Gaon and founded the Volozhin yeshiva-often referred to as the " Mother of the Yeshivas "-to which most Litvish (" Lithuanian ") yeshivas can be traced.

As the Mishna in Tractate Peah ( 1: 1 ) states: " The study of Torah is equal to all of the mitzvos ", the Gaon encouraged his chief pupil, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, to found a yeshiva ( college ) in which rabbinic literature should be taught.

As is written in the book Iggrot HaTanya in the name of the Gaon of Vilna who does not believe in the Kabbalah of the Ari in its entirety that it is wholly from the mouth of Elijah z " l, only a small portion is from the mouth of Elijah z " l, and the rest is from his great knowledge and it is not required to believe it ... and thus wrote Rabbi Chaim Volozhin in the foreword to his book ... and if so, why all this awe that we should put aside the words of all the Poskim and all of the laws because of the opinion of the Ari z " l?

Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner was a student of the Vilna Gaon, and thus some students of Brisk talk of a line of tradition extending " from Moses at Sinai, to Joshua, to the Elders ... to the Vilna Gaon, to Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner, and then to the Soloveitchik dynasty.

His teachings reflect influences of both schools as well as certain facets of the Kabbalah of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the Vilna Gaon and others.

The writings and rulings of those such as Rashi ( 1040 – 1105 ), Maimonides ( 1135 – 1204 ), Yosef Karo ( 1488 – 1575 ) who published the most widely accepted code of Jewish law the Shulkhan Arukh, Isaac Luria ( 1534 – 1572 ), the Vilna Gaon ( 1720 – 1797 ), the Chafetz Chaim ( 1838 – 1933 ) and many others have shaped Jewish religious law for almost two thousand years, as their religious rulings were published, distributed, studied, and observed until the present time.

This interpretation of the Talmudic statement, or the acceptance of the statement itself, is disputed ( for various reasons ) by the Ba ' alei Tosafot ( based on the Jerusalem Talmud ), Maimonides, Rabbeinu Ephraim, Ba ' al HaMa ' or, Ran, Orchot Chaim, Be ' er Hagolah, Magen Avraham, Taz, Rema, Vilna Gaon, Maharsha, Rashash, Tzeidah LaDerech, Hagahot Maimoniyot, Ra ' avyah, Korban N ' tan ' el, Bach, Maharil, P ' ri M ' gadim, Kol Bo, Chochmat Mano ' ach, Mishnah Berurah ( by the Chafetz Chaim ), and others.

Ginzberg emulated the Vilna Gaon ’ s intermingling of ‘ academic knowledge ’ in Torah studies under the label ‘ historical Judaism ’.

Shyam Sunder was in Mumbai and provided the opportunity to Rafi to sing a duet with GM Durrani, ‘ Aji dil ho qaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi ...’, for Gaon Ki Gori, which became Rafi ’ s first recorded song in a Hindi film.

When a rabbi is accused of heresy: the stance of the Gaon of Vilna in the Emden-Eibeschuetz controversy in Me ’ ah She ’ arim ( 2001 ) 251-263

The Vilna Gaon wrote an extensive commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, Kol HaTor, in which it is said that he had tried to create a Golem to fight the power of evil at the Gates of Jerusalem.

There is no proof for this as it is said that the village near Mhow has been called Mhow Gaon since time immemorial.

Among the artists who began their careers in the Lehakot are Arik Einstein, Chava Alberstein, the members of Kaveret, Yehoram Gaon, Nehama Hendel, Yisrael Borochov, Yardena Arazi, Shlomo Artzi, Etti Ankri, and David D ' Or.

In 1774 he and Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk traveled to Vilna in an attempt to create a dialogue with the Vilna Gaon who led the Misnagdim and had issued a ban ( cherem ) against the Hasidim, but the Gaon refused to see them ( see Vilna Gaon: Antagonism to Hasidism and Hasidim and Mitnagdim ).

But being that they Ashkenazim are venerative in their teaching, they do not rule halakha l ' ma ' ase halakha ', especially on matters of new developments or new technologies which create halakhic problems, it is far from them to be interested and express their view of Daat Torah ... Our Rabbi the Gaon was among those few virtuous ones who took upon themselves this burden to resolve the actual problems of his time, and among them are some which are relevant to this day, and he did not avoid answering his questioner ...

Scholars suggest that Maimonides instigated the Maimonidean Controversy when he verbally attacked Samuel ben Ali Ha-Levi al-Dastur (" Gaon of Baghdad ") as " one whom people accustom from his youth to believe that there is none like him in his generation ," and he sharply attack the " monetary demands " of the academies.

In 1755, when the Gaon was thirty-five, Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschütz, then sixty-five years old, applied to him for an examination of and decision concerning his amulets, which were a subject of discord between himself and Rabbi Jacob Emden.

It seems that the Vilna Gaon, who wrote extensive Kabbalistic works, followed the Lurianic system, but diverged from Luria when he felt the Zohar lent itself to another approach.

In a sense, Alfasi brought the geonic period to a close — the last of the Babylonian geonim, Rav Hai Gaon, died when Alfasi was 25 years old ; Alfasi himself was called Gaon by several early halachic authorities.

Rav Nissim Gaon postulates in his Hakdamah Le ' mafteach Hatalmud that information on the holiday was so commonplace that the Mishna felt no need to explain it.

When the Gaon saw that the Golem was growing larger and larger, he feared that the Golem would destroy the universe.

The 18th-century Vilna Gaon, for instance, while the head of Rabbinic opposition to the new Jewish mystical movement that itself became known as " Hasidism ", was renowned for his righteous life.

His scholarship became popularly honored with the formal title of " Genius ", while amongst the Hasidic movement's leadership, despite his fierce opposition, he was respecfully referred to as " The Gaon, the Hasid from Vilna ".

According to the Epistle of Sherira Gaon, after the tremendous upheaval caused by the destruction of the Temple and the Bar Kochba revolt, the Oral Torah was in danger of being forgotten.

The most important early account of its composition, the Epistle of Sherira Gaon, is ambiguous on the point, though the " Spanish " recension leans to the theory that the Mishnah was written.

The earliest existing codification of the prayerbook was drawn up by Rav Amram Gaon of Sura, Babylon, about 850 CE.

It was also an important resource in the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the Kairouan school of Hananel ben Hushiel and Nissim Gaon, with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the Tosafot and the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides.

In Yemen, however, rather than abandoning the Aramaic targum during the public reading of the Torah, it was supplemented by a third version, namely the translation of the Torah into Arabic by Saadia Gaon ( called the Tafsir, though this Gaon was born in prominently Jewish at the time Sura Iraq, Babylon, moved to Egypt, arguably lead those two communities, and died in Jaffa ancestral Israel, he was not known to have ever been to the Jewish villages of Yemen.

This seemingly childish song about different animals and people who attempted to punish others for their crimes and were in turn punished themselves, was interpreted by the Vilna Gaon as an allegory to the retribution God will levy over the enemies of the Jewish people at the end of days.

The practice of practical kabbalah was banned by the Vilna Gaon due to the decreasing spiritual sensitivity of later generations.

All official business of the yeshiva was conducted in the name of its Gaon, and all correspondence to or from the yeshiva was addressed directly to the Gaon.

In this regard, the Gaon of a yeshiva was seen as the highest judge on all matters of Jewish law.