The Gaon of Vilna : the man and his image /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Etkes, I.
Uniform title:Yaḥid be-doro. English
Imprint:Berkeley : University of California Press, c2002.
Description:viii, 299 p. ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Series:The S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies
S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies.
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/4682178
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:0520223942
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-294) and index.
Description
Summary:A legendary figure in his own lifetime, Rabbi Eliahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797) was known as the "Gaon of Vilna." He was the acknowledged master of Talmudic studies in the vibrant intellectual center of Vilna, revered throughout Eastern Europe for his learning and his ability to traverse with ease seemingly opposed domains of thought and activity. After his death, the myth that had been woven around him became even more powerful and was expressed in various public images. The formation of these images was influenced as much by the needs and wishes of those who clung to and depended on them as by the actual figure of the Gaon. In this penetrating study, Immanuel Etkes sheds light on aspects of the Vilna Gaon's "real" character and traces several public images of him as they have developed and spread from the early nineteenth century until the present.
Physical Description:viii, 299 p. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-294) and index.
ISBN:0520223942