1720 - 1797
Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, (Hebrew: ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman), also known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאון Der Vilner Goen; Polish: Gaon z Wilna, Gaon Wileński; { or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gra ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 1720 – Vilnius October 9, 1797), was a Lithuanian Jewish Talmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of misnagdic (non-hasidic) Jewry of the past few centuries. He is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha-Gaon mi-Vilna, "the genius from Vilnius".Through his annotations and emendations of Talmudic and other texts, he became one of the most familiar and influential figures in rabbinic study since the Middle Ages. Although he is chronologically one of the Acharonim, some considered him one of the RishonimLarge groups of people, including many yeshivas, uphold the set of Jewish customs and rites (minhag), the "minhag ha-Gra", named after him, and which is also considered by many to be the prevailing Ashkenazi minhag in Jerusalem.Born in Sielec in the Brest Litovsk Voivodeship (today Sialiec, Belarus), the Gaon displayed extraordinary talent while still a child. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Vilna Gaon has received more than 654,255 page views. His biography is available in 33 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 30 in 2019). Vilna Gaon is the 816th most popular religious figure (down from 715th in 2019), the 27th most popular biography from Belarus (down from 24th in 2019) and the most popular Belarusian Religious Figure.
Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon, was a famous Talmudic scholar and the leader of the Mitnagdic Jewish community in the 18th century. He is most famous for his work on the Talmud, which he would study for hours each day.
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Among religious figures, Vilna Gaon ranks 816 out of 2,238. Before him are Archduke Rudolf of Austria, Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Nathan Söderblom, Hemma of Gurk, Giovanni Battista Re, and Nicolaus Zinzendorf. After him are Saint Malachy, Mammes of Caesarea, Haran, Rashid Rida, Eduardo Martínez Somalo, and Saint Maurus.
1788 - 1831
HPI: 61.20
Rank: 810
1030 - 1079
HPI: 61.18
Rank: 811
1866 - 1931
HPI: 61.18
Rank: 812
980 - 1045
HPI: 61.16
Rank: 813
1934 - Present
HPI: 61.16
Rank: 814
1700 - 1760
HPI: 61.16
Rank: 815
1720 - 1797
HPI: 61.14
Rank: 816
1094 - 1148
HPI: 61.12
Rank: 817
259 - 275
HPI: 61.11
Rank: 818
HPI: 61.09
Rank: 819
1865 - 1935
HPI: 61.09
Rank: 820
1927 - 2021
HPI: 61.04
Rank: 821
512 - 587
HPI: 61.01
Rank: 822
Among people born in 1720, Vilna Gaon ranks 10. Before him are Anna Maria Mozart, Philip, Duke of Parma, Carlo Gozzi, James Hargreaves, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, and Emperor Sakuramachi. After him are Charles Bonnet, Heraclius II of Georgia, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco, Hyder Ali, and William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. Among people deceased in 1797, Vilna Gaon ranks 9. Before him are Mary Wollstonecraft, Frederick William II of Prussia, François-Noël Babeuf, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, James Hutton, and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern. After him are Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, Lazare Hoche, Joseph Wright of Derby, Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, Horace Walpole, and Olaudah Equiano.
1720 - 1778
HPI: 65.86
Rank: 4
1720 - 1765
HPI: 65.44
Rank: 5
1720 - 1806
HPI: 64.46
Rank: 6
1720 - 1778
HPI: 63.04
Rank: 7
1720 - 1782
HPI: 62.62
Rank: 8
1720 - 1750
HPI: 62.25
Rank: 9
1720 - 1797
HPI: 61.14
Rank: 10
1720 - 1793
HPI: 59.85
Rank: 11
1720 - 1798
HPI: 58.04
Rank: 12
1720 - 1785
HPI: 56.92
Rank: 13
1720 - 1795
HPI: 56.64
Rank: 14
1720 - 1782
HPI: 56.16
Rank: 15
1720 - 1764
HPI: 55.21
Rank: 16
1759 - 1797
HPI: 71.49
Rank: 3
1744 - 1797
HPI: 71.20
Rank: 4
1760 - 1797
HPI: 68.03
Rank: 5
1742 - 1797
HPI: 65.88
Rank: 6
1726 - 1797
HPI: 64.45
Rank: 7
1715 - 1797
HPI: 62.82
Rank: 8
1720 - 1797
HPI: 61.14
Rank: 9
1732 - 1797
HPI: 60.03
Rank: 10
1768 - 1797
HPI: 59.59
Rank: 11
1734 - 1797
HPI: 59.14
Rank: 12
1728 - 1797
HPI: 58.47
Rank: 13
1717 - 1797
HPI: 57.23
Rank: 14
1745 - 1797
HPI: 57.17
Rank: 15
Among people born in Belarus, Vilna Gaon ranks 27 out of 330. Before him are Pavel Sukhoi (1895), Stanislav Shushkevich (1934), Bronislav Kaminski (1899), Francysk Skaryna (1486), Zalman Shazar (1889), and Léon Bakst (1866). After him are Raphael Lemkin (1900), Irving Berlin (1888), Alexander Parvus (1867), Maria Kaczyńska (1942), Stanisław Moniuszko (1819), and Isser Harel (1912).
1895 - 1975
HPI: 62.14
Rank: 21
1934 - 2022
HPI: 61.93
Rank: 22
1899 - 1944
HPI: 61.81
Rank: 23
1486 - 1541
HPI: 61.70
Rank: 24
1889 - 1974
HPI: 61.66
Rank: 25
1866 - 1924
HPI: 61.44
Rank: 26
1720 - 1797
HPI: 61.14
Rank: 27
1900 - 1959
HPI: 60.97
Rank: 28
1888 - 1989
HPI: 60.84
Rank: 29
1867 - 1924
HPI: 60.68
Rank: 30
1942 - 2010
HPI: 60.22
Rank: 31
1819 - 1872
HPI: 60.18
Rank: 32
1912 - 2003
HPI: 60.16
Rank: 33
Among religious figures born in Belarus, Vilna Gaon ranks 1. After him are Kirill of Turov (1130), Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838), Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789), Tadevuš Kandrusievič (1946), and Aleksandr Kurlovich (1961).
1720 - 1797
HPI: 61.14
Rank: 1
1130 - 1182
HPI: 54.18
Rank: 2
1838 - 1933
HPI: 50.96
Rank: 3
1789 - 1866
HPI: 50.38
Rank: 4
1946 - Present
HPI: 48.06
Rank: 5
1961 - 2018
HPI: 40.81
Rank: 6