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 cent
Israel Salanter was one of the most original and influential Jewish leaders and thinkers of Eastern European Jewry in the modern period. One of Salanter’s most striking innovations was the transformat
Founded in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century, the Hasidic movement and its religious thinking have dramatically transformed modern Judaism. The figure of the Ba'al Shem Tov (known in acronym fo
