The Famous Rabbi: The Gaon of Vilna and Who Could Be Related To Him?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

                            Rabbi Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797)

The Gaon of Vilna, Elijah Zalman, was born and raised in Vilna, Lithuania. He's known for his views on the teachings of the Torah.  He also had views on the future.  He considered the period in which he lived as the end of the Diaspora and the beginning of the Messianic era.  He then believed there was a period of Redemption that had to be actively initiated by human actions, of which the observance of the commandment to settle in Eretz Yisrael was of central importance.  That's the beginning of our return to Palestine, and for that to become today's Israel.  

 

Does my family have any chance of being related to him?

In my family tree, I have been able to go back to Iones "Jonas" Goldfus b 1730 in Telsiai (Telz) , Lithuania. 

Vilnius, the Jewish center,  and Telz are  150 miles apart;  (240 km.) Northwest of Vilnius (Vilna) Telz.  Jews lived in Vilna at the end of the 15th century but were banished in 1527.  A number returned only to be victims of another riot in 1592.  Then the next year they were formally allowed to settle, acquire houses, lend money (their vocation).  In 1633 they could even trade in precious stones, meat and livestock and be craftsmen.  Another riot in 1635, and by 1655 those remaining Jews were massacred by the Cossack army.  4,000 Jews were among the victims of famine in Vilna in 1709-1710.  

Until 1795, Telz was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, when the 3rd division of Poland by the 3 superpowers of those times--Russia, Prussia and Austria---caused Lithuania to become partly Russian and partly Prussian.   Telz was in the Russian part.  

Finally, from the 18th century (1700s), I guess after the famine,  Vilna became a center of rabbinical study, the Jerusalem of Lithuania, mostly due to Rabbi Zalman, the Gaon of Vilna.

Chaim (Keith) Freedman has done the most work on Rabbi Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797), otherwise known to all as the Gaon of Vilna. He wrote a book about him called "Eliyahu's Branches-The Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family."  Freedman  is a direct descendant of the Gaon of Vilna and is genealogist Chaim Freedman of Petah Tikva, who made aliyah from Australia in 1977. Freedman has been interested in Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman (revered as the Vilna Gaon – the Genius of Vilna) since he was a boy in his native Melbourne.  Chaim Freedman’s family originated in the Raseiniai district of Lithuania; of which Kaunas (Kovno) is a town there.

Chaim (Keith) Freedman was born in 1947 in Melbourne, Australia to parents of eastern European origins. He was educated at Mount Scopus College in Melbourne. In 1977, he immigrated with his wife to Israel, 3 years before me.   Chaim is a noted genealogist having lectured at numerous genealogical and historical conferences including The International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, Jerusalem 1984,1994 and 2004. He has published his research in Avotaynu, Sharsheret Hadorot, Search, RootsKey, the Journal of the Australian Jewish Historical Society and Yated Ne'eman. Freedman edited "Jewish Personal Names: Their Origin, Derivation and Diminutive Forms" by the late Rabbi Shmuel Gorr, published in 1992 by Avotaynu. Freedman wrote several books about his immediate family, "Our Fathers' Harvest", a history of the Komisaruk and other families involved in Jewish agricultural colonization in the Ukraine, and "The Pen and the Blade", a history of the Super family. Chaim Freedmans major work is "Eliyahu's Branches.  

Freedman, an eighth-generation direct descendant of the Vilna Gaon, has spent decades researching genealogy and says that the number of known descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his siblings is in the range of 30,000. To coincide with the 200th anniversary of the death of the Vilna Gaon in 1997, Freedman published his laborious research in his 704-page book Eliyahu’s Branches: The Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his Family. The book was published by New Haven headquartered Avotaynu, a leading publisher of books, journals and newsletters geared to people researching Jewish genealogy, Jewish family trees and Jewish roots. There are some 20,000 names and numerous concise biographies in the book. Since publication, Freedman has compiled around 10,000 additional names.

Vilna, Lithuania has had its highlights.  From this date, of the 18th century, the city of Vilna, Lithuania became a center of rabbinical study, being dubbed the "Lithuanian Jerusalem".  Elijah Zalman was universally known as the Gaon of Vilna.  Many Haskalah leaders also lived there plus the Hebrew press belonging to the Romm family produced the Talmud that became standard.  Vilna was the birthplace of the Bund, a Socialist Polish, Lithuanian and Russian party, as well.  One thing to know; Rabbi Zalman led the opposition to the Hasidim in Lithuania.  He was adamant about it; ordering their excommunication and the destruction of their literature !  That wouldn't fly today, I'm sure as there are many Hasidim !  His obdurate attitude checked the spread of Hasidism in Lithuania, though.                                        

Rabbi Zalman wanted to go to Palestine.  The best path is to go from Lithuania to Rome and then get to Palestine by ship on the Mediterranean Sea.  

The Gaon of Vilna could have tried to stay on land and go to Turkey and from there to Palestine.  Turkey's borders on the European continent consist of a 212-kilometre frontier with Greece and a 269-kilometre border with Bulgaria. Turkey is generally divided into seven regions: the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, the East and Southeast Anatolia regions.  Turkey’s frontiers with Greece—206 kilometers—and Bulgaria—240 kilometers— were settled by the Treaty of Constantinople (1913) and later confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.We don't know how far the Gaon of Vilna had gotten.  The borders in 1780 were most likely very dangerous for a lone traveler.  

         ship Neptune in 1780 .  He may not have needed a ship.  

When he was 60 years old, Zalman  set out alone for Palestine, but returned before reaching there.  I could have told him so.  It would have been impossible then with more dangers than ever along the way.  

His followers were the Mitnaggedim (opponents of Hasidim)  who regarded him as their spiritual leader.  When the Russians entered Vilna in 1944, they found 600 Jews hiding in the sewers.  Jews from other areas began converging on Vilnus after the war.  By 1988 the Jewish population was 13,000.  

Chaim Freedman tells us that the Torah includes 477 genealogical records.  The Prophets and other books of the Bible include 2,756  genealogical records.  Chronicles is almost entirely concerned with genealogy.  He mentions Rabbi Meir Wunder at the Hebrew University National Library in Jerusalem who referred Freedman to people who had arrived at the library looking for information on the Gaon's family.                       

      from Roots web  Gaon's tree

He said, "Because the Gaon of Vilna was such a prominent figure in Jewish scholarship, descent from him was considered to be particularly worthy of honour....  Descent from the Gaon also carried with it a responsibility to live up to his standards of behaviour, particularly in religious matters.  

All the people with Lithuanian descent have probably claimed descent from the Gaon of Vilna, but DNA could clear up a lot of the questions.  My hope is that more and more do test, and that Freedman can keep that record as well.  As for me, I checked with FTDNA and find that I have DNA matches with 15 males and 10 females.  My brother also matches 13 men and 11 women with the name of Freedman.  Since Chaim Freedman is quite sure he's a descendant, he's a good marker to use.  One never knows if a woman is using her maiden name or married name.  Out of the men, I found one Freedman with the same haplogroup as my brother.  If ours is not the line, then we are related through other in-common surnames.  

Resource:

https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/telz/telz.html

Book: Eliyahui's Branches by Chaim Freedman

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2019/01/descendants-of-jewish-lithuanians-up-to.html

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/a-time-honored-tradition-419226

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ultra-orthodox-anti-zionist/

http://chfreedman.blogspot.com/search/label/Chaim%20Freedman%20great-great-great-grandparents

https://www.litvaksig.org/information-and-tools/online-journal/18th-century-links-to-the-family-of-the-vilna-gaon-and-the-komisaruk-family-of-raseiniai