Vilna Gaon

Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, (Hebrew:ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן‎ Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman) known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish:דער װילנער גאון‎, Lithuanian:Vilniaus Gaonas) or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym HaGra ("HaGaon Rabbenu Eliyahu") or Elijah Ben Solomon, (Vilnius April 23, 1720 – Vilnius October 9, 1797), was a Talmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of mitnagdic (non-hasidic) Jewry of the past few centuries. He is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha-Gaon he-Chasid mi-Vilna, "the saintly genius from Vilnius".