Vilna Gaon House

Beginning in the 19th century, Vilnius was a hub of Jewish scholarship and thought. Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797), more commonly known as the Vilna Gaon or the Genius of Vilna, was a famous Jewish scholar, specializing in Jewish law (“halakha”), kabbalah, and the Talmud. The Vilna Gaon went on to become one of the first well-known Torah scholars of Vilnius, and in many ways, set a precedent for many other Lithuanian Jewish scholars, inspiring movements that impacted the entire Ashkenazi Jewish world.

During his lifetime, the Vilna Gaon was considered to be the most influential Jew in Lithuania. He was given the title “Gaon,” meaning “genius,” because of his extensive knowledge of the Torah and all other Jewish texts. He established a school of thought that attracted some of the sharpest minds of the Jewish world. He died at age 77 and was initially buried in the Snipiskes Cemetery, which was demolished during the Soviet occupation. He has since been reburied in a new cemetery outside of Vilnius, in Šeškinė.

You are standing in front of a building that once belonged to the Vilna Gaon’s wife, who owned a store in this building. Their family home was located just a few minutes away from here.