Place

Vilna (Yerushalayim d'Lita) ווילנא — ירושלים דליטא

The city of the Vilna Gaon, the Vilna Shas, and old batei medrash

Vilna, today the capital of Lithuania, was known as "Yerushalayim d'Lita", a world centre of Torah from the 18th century. The Vilna Gaon lived here, and the Vilna Shas was printed here.

Contents (3)

Yerushalayim d'Lita
The Vilna Shas
Today

Yerushalayim d'Lita

Vilna (today Vilnius), the capital of Lithuania, was called "Yerushalayim d'Lita", the Jerusalem of Lithuania ^[1]. From the 18th century it was a world centre of Torah with a large Jewish population ^[1]. Here lived and learned Rabbi Eliyahu, the Vilna Gaon, whose writings shaped the whole Torah world ^[1].

The Vilna Shas

In 1886 the Vilna Shas was published in the city; it remains the edition of the Gemara learned in almost every beis medrash ^[1]. When a bochur in Lakewood, a Chasid in Williamsburg or a yungerman in Bnei Brak opens a Gemara, he sees a piece of Vilna.

Today

The city has a museum named for the Vilna Gaon telling the history of Lithuanian Jewry ^[1]. The Gaon's resting place is visited by Jews from around the world.