LIVED: 1720–1797
229th yahrtzeit: 19 Tishrei
BURIED: Vilna, Lithuania
Rav Eliyahu Kramer of Vilna, also known simply as the “GR”A” (HaGaon Rav Eliyahu) or the “Vilna Gaon,” was one of the greatest Torah giants of the last three hundred years. He knew every part of Torah backwards and forwards with incredible depth and clarity. The GR”A wrote a peirush on all of Shulchan Aruch and Tanach, books of mussar, as well as important works on Kabbalah.
When young Eliyahu was just ten years old, he learned Gemara with a chavrusa for most of the day. But for a few hours each day, he would learn Kabbalah on his own. Even at such a young age, he completed several works of kabbalah, including the Pardes Rimonim, the writings of Arizal, and the entire Zohar!
When he was eleven years old, on Simchas Torah night, he suddenly remembered that he had wanted to finish Masechtos Zevachim and Menachos (both very difficult and long) by the morning of Simchas Torah. He wasted no time and quickly went to go learn. A few hours later, one of the great talmidei chochomim of the city noticed that the young boy was already up to daf nun of zevachim, almost halfway through! He couldn’t believe that anyone, especially a child, could possibly understand so much Gemara in such a short amount of time. He decided to test him, and to his surprise, the boy knew everything he had learned!
The next morning, the same talmid chochom noticed that young Eliyahu was already in the middle of Menachos. He tested him again — on the rest of zevachim and the first half of menachos — and again he was blown away! By the time Shacharis began, this future gadol had mastered both masechtos.
The GR”A’s children wrote that his davening was very sweet and filled with ahavas Hashem. Many people would come to shul just to be as close as they could to the GR”A and listen to the way he davened. They said that those who heard his davening would themselves be filled with a spirit of clarity, ahavas Hashem, and yiras Hashem, that could stay with them for years!
In Vilna during that time, most people weren’t able to have their own esrog for sukkos. It wasn’t like today where there are plenty for everyone. Growing esrogim was difficult and expensive. The talmidim of the GR”A, however, always made sure to find a very nice esrog and make sure it was saved only for their rebbi.
One year, they simply couldn’t find a good esrog locally. Not being able to bear the thought of their rebbi going through sukkos without a beautiful esrog, they decided to travel to other cities and keep looking.
After many days, they finally found a gorgeous esrog. There was only one problem: The man who owned it refused to sell it. They offered him more and more money, but he simply wasn’t interested.
Finally, they told him that they were buying the esrog for the Vilna Gaon. When he heard this, he immediately agreed to give it to them, but he wanted a very unusual payment. Rather than money, He wanted the schar of the mitzvah itself! That’s right, if they wanted this esrog for their rebbi, they would have to agree that all the reward that would come from the mitzva would go to this other man!
The talmidim felt they had no choice, and agreed. When they returned to Vilna and showed the esrog to the GR”A, he was very excited. They then nervously told him the price they had agreed to pay.
When the GR”A heard, a huge smile spread across his face. “I’ve always wanted to do a mitzvah shelo al menas lekabel pras – without receiving any reward, purely l’shem shamayim. Now I finally have the opportunity!”
The elders of Vilna would later remember the tremendous simcha the GR”A showed throughout Sukkos that year.
I WANNA BE LIKE …
The GR”A showed us what it looks like to serve Hashem with both tremendous effort and tremendous love. Let’s try to follow in his ways by putting more heart into our learning and davening, and by doing mitzvos simply because we love Hashem and want to do His will.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 100 – Sukkos.