01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb?

Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon

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A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon

by
Shnayer Z. Leiman BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2018 (21)
1. Prologue
► 2017 (44)

This essay attempts to identify the authentic grave of the Vilna Gaon (d. As 1797).1 ► 2016 (56)
will become apparent, it surely is not the grave that Jewish pilgrims are shown today ► 2015 (80)
when they visit Vilna. We shall attempt to identify his authentic grave by applying the
► 2014 (65)
biblical rule: ‫על פי שני עדים יקום דבר‬ “a matter is established by the testimony of two
► 2013 (48)
witnesses.” We shall cite two different kinds of witnesses. One witness will represent ▼ 2012 (48)
primarily ‫תורה שבכתב‬, i.e., literary evidence. The other witness will represent ► December
(4)
primarily ‫תורה שבעל פה‬  , i.e., oral history.
► November
(1)
2. Introduction
► October (3)
Three Jewish cemeteries have served the Vilna Jewish community throughout its ▼ September
long history. The first Jewish cemetery, often called by its Yiddish name der alter (5)
feld (Hebrew: ‫)בית עולם הישן‬, was north of the early modern Jewish Ghetto of Vilna, and Who is
Buried in
just north of the Vilia River (today called the Neris) in the town of Shnipishok. It served as
the Vilna
the main Jewish cemetery until 1830, when, due to lack of space, it was closed by the Gaon’s
municipal authorities. The following photograph, taken in 1912, presents an aerial view of Tomb? A
the first Jewish cemetery, looking north from Castle Hill in the old city. One can see the Contribu...
Neris River flowing south of the cemetery; portions of the fence surrounding the On some
cemetery; and the house of the Jewish caretaker of the cemetery near the north-western new
entrance to the cemetery. (Each of the following images may be enlarged and viewed in seforim,
Copernicu
higher resolution by clicking on them.) s, saying
Ledovid ,
...

What’s
Wrong
With
Wealth
and
Honor?
Introduction
to The
Song of
Songs (An
Excerpt)
by ...
The Book of
Disputes
between
East and
West

► August (3)
► July (3)
► June (4)
► May (5)

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
Such famous rabbis as R. Moshe Rivkes (d. 1671), author of ‫באר הגולה‬, and R. ► April (3)

Avraham Danzig (d. 1820), author of ‫חיי אדם‬, were buried in der alter feld. See the ► March (7)

following photograph for the grave of the ‫ חיי אדם‬in the old cemetery. ► February
(6)
► January (4)

► 2011 (47)
► 2010 (63)
► 2009 (60)
► 2008 (77)
► 2007 (148)
► 2006 (97)
► 2005 (29)

BIBLIOGRAPHICA
L ONLINE
RESOURCES

Early Jewish
Newspapers at
JNUL
German Jewish
Periodicals Online
The second Jewish cemetery, in use from 1831 until 1941, was east of Vilna
Harvard's Catalog
proper, on a mountain overlooking the nearby neighborhood called Zaretcha. Here were
Hebraic Section
buried famous Maskilim such as Adam Ha-Kohen Lebensohn (d. 1878), and famous
Library of
rabbinic scholars such as R. Shmuel Strashun (d. 1872), R. Avraham Avele Pasvaler (d. Congress
1836), R. Shlomo Ha-Kohen (d. 1906), and R. Hayyim Ozer Grodzenski (d. 1940). With
HebrewBooks.org
70,000 graves in place in 1940, the second cemetery ran out of space, and a third Jewish
JNUL Catalog
cemetery was acquired and dedicated by the Vilna Jewish community shortly before the
outbreak of World War II. It lies north-west of central Vilna, in Saltonishkiu in the JTS Library
Sheshkines region, and is still in use today by the Jewish community in Vilna. Library of
Congress Catalog
The Vilna Gaon, who died in 1797, was, of course, buried in the first Jewish Menasseh ben
cemetery. That cemetery was destroyed in the Stalinist period circa 1950, but just before Israel's Books
Online
it was destroyed we are informed by the sources that the Gaon was moved, perhaps
Penn Judaica
temporarily to the second cemetery,2 but certainly to the third cemetery, where he rests Online Resources
today.
RAMBI

Let us enter the third cemetery and stand before the Ohel ha-Gra. Rare Hebrew
Books Online
available at Jewish
National
Library(JNUL)
Seforim Online
Talmudic
Manuscripts
Online at JNUL
Zeitschrift fur
Hebraische
Bibliographie

RELATED BLOGS
Ben Din l'Din
Hagahot
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Adventures
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Mendel
On the Contrary
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Other Blogs I
Read
PaleoJudaica
It is a modest and narrow Ohel. When one enters the Ohel, one sees seven
graves laid out from left to right, with five tombstones embedded in the wall at the heads the Michtavim blog
of the graves. ‫גילוי מלתא בעלמא‬

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
HEBRAICA &
JUDAICA
AUCTIONS
Asufa
Baranovich
Genazym
Judaica Silver Art
Kedem Auctions
Sothebys Judaica

LABELS

Adam Mintz (3)

Akavia Shemesh
(1)
Akiva Leiman (1)
Akiva Males (1)
Alan Zelenetz (1)
Albert D.
Friedberg (1)
Amudim bTolodot
The tour guides inform the visitors that the Gaon is buried in the fourth grave from Sefer HaIvri (5)
the left. Indeed, directly above his grave, embedded in the wall, is a tombstone that clearly
Ari Kahn (1)
identifies the grave as that of the Gaon. One wonders who else is buried in the Ohel. The
Ari Z. Zivotofsky
narrow confines of the Ohel, and the poor lighting in the Ohel, make it almost impossible
(1)
to read the tombstones. One American publication identifies the others as R. Shlomo
Ariel Evan Mayse
Zalman, the father of the Gra (d. 1758); R. Avraham, the son of the Gra (d. 1809); R.
(3)
Yehoshua Heschel, Chief Rabbi of Vilna (d. 1749); R. Shmuel b. Avigdor, last Chief Rabbi
Arthur Hyman (1)
of Vilna (d.1793); R. Avraham Danzig, author of ‫ ;חיי אדם‬and Avraham b. Avraham, the
Artscroll (4)
legendary Ger Zedek of Vilna. Another American publication presents a different list that
Arukh HaShulhan
includes R. Moshe Rivkes, author of the ‫ באר הגולה‬, and Traina, the mother of the Gaon. (5)
In Israel, several published lists know for a fact that R. Shmuel Strashun was moved Aryeh A. Frimer
together with the Gaon, and now rests in the new Ohel. All these accounts are (3)
imaginary.3 Asaf Yedidya (1)
Auction (4)
When one reads the accounts of the reinterment of the Gaon, and of those buried
Autobiography (1)
in his Ohel today, it becomes apparent than more than bodies were moved. Wherever
possible, the original tombstones were moved together with the dead and then reset at Aviad Hacohen (1)
the head of the graves. All one has to do is read the tombstone inscriptions in order to Avinoam Fraenkel
(1)
identify who was moved. Reading from left to right, buried in the Ohel ha-Gra are:
B. Jackson (1)
1. R. Zvi Hirsch Pesseles (d. 1817). A relative of the Gaon, whose grandfather, R. Eliyah Baruch
Pesseles (d. 1771), helped finance the Gaon’s study activity. Oberlander (3)
Batsheva Sassoon
2. R. Yissachar Baer b. R. Shlomo Zalman (d. 1807). A younger brother of the Gaon, he (1)
was a master of rabbinic literature who was also adept in the exact sciences. Ben Zion Katz (1)
Bency Eichorn (2)
3. R. Noah Mindes Lipshutz (d. 1797). Distinguished Kabbalist, he was the author of
Benjamin Richler
‫פרפראות לחכמה‬ and ‫נפלאות חדשות‬. He married Minda (hence: Mindes), the daughter of (4)
R. Eliyahu Pesseles, mentioned above (grave 1). A close associate of the Gaon during Besamim Rosh (9)
his lifetime, he and the Gaon share a single tombstone in death. Bezalel Naor (8)
Bible (1)
4. The Gaon.
Bibliographical
Oddities (75)
5. Minda Lipshutz (date of death unknown). She was the daughter of R. Eliyah
Bibliographies
Pesseles and the wife of R. Noah Mindes Lipshutz. (18)
Birkat ha-Chama
6. Devorah Pesseles (date of death unknown). She was the wife of R. Dov Baer (1)
Pesseles, a son of R. Eliyahu Pesseles, and the mother of R. Zvi Hirsch Pesseles (grave
Book Reviews
1). (123)
Book Week (10)
The seventh grave is unmarked, that is, it is without a tombstone. The tour guides
Brian Schwartz (1)
will tell you that it contains the ashes of Avraham b. Avraham, the legendary Ger Zedek of
Cairo Genizah (1)
Vilna.4
Carmi Horowitz (1)
A pattern emerges. Clearly, the original plot in the Shnipishok cemetery belonged Censorship (52)
to the Pesseles family, one of the wealthiest and most distinguished in Vilna. The Gaon Chaim Katz (5)

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found his resting place here due to the generosity of his relatives and friends in the Chaim Milikowsky
Pesseles family. More importantly, when a hard decision had to be made in 1950 or so (1)
regarding who should be moved from the old cemetery in Shnipishok, it was not the Chaim Miller (1)
greatest rabbis who were moved and reinterred. It was neither R. Moshe Rivkes, nor R. Chaim Rapoport
Yehoshua Heschel, nor R. Shmuel b. Avigdor, nor R. Avraham Danzig, nor R. Shmuel (7)
Strashun. Nor was it the Gaon’s father, mother, or son. It was the Gaon and the persons Chaim Sunitsky
to his immediate right and left; the Gaon saved not only himself, but also those buried in (9)
proximity to him. Chanukah (15)
Charles H.
3. The Problem Manekin (1)
Christian M.
While the identification seems reasonable, the ordering of the graves is Rutishauser (1)
problematic. Anyone familiar with traditional Jewish cemeteries will know that some keep
Chronology (1)
men and women separate, while others are mixed. Clearly, the old Jewish cemetery in
Customs (48)
Shnipishok was mixed. But even when mixed, husbands and wives tended to be buried
next to each other. So too mothers and sons. Yet in the Ohel ha-Gra, R. Zvi Hirsch Dan Rabinowitz
(1)
Pesseles is buried at the extreme left, whereas his mother Devora is buried at the
extreme right. Neither is buried next to his or her spouse. Even more puzzling is the fact Dan Yardeni (2)
that the Gaon rests in between Rabbi Noah Mindes Lipshutz and his wife Minda Lipshutz. Daniel A. Klein (1)
Now it may be that Rabbi and Mrs. Lipshutz were not on speaking terms, but this was Daniel J. Lasker
hardly the way to decide where the Gaon should be buried. (3)
Daniel Sperber (8)
The problem assumes prodigious proportions when we examine Israel Daniel Tabak (1)
Klausner’s ‫העולמין הישן בוילנה‬-‫קורות בית‬, published in Vilna in 1935. Klausner visited the
David Assaf (1)
Shnipishok Jewish cemetery, recorded some of the tombstone inscriptions of its most
David Berger (1)
famous rabbis and, more importantly, drew a precise map of the location of each grave. It
David Glasner (2)
is important to note his orientation, as he drew the map. Klausner stood at the northern
entrance to the Jewish cemetery, looking southward toward the Vilia River. See the David Golinkin (1)
depiction of the Ohel ha-Gra in Klausner’s map. David M.
Goldenberg (1)
David Roth (1)
David S. Farkas
(3)
David S. Zinberg
(3)
David Segal (1)
David Shasha (1)
David Strauss. (1)
David Zilberberg
(1)
Dovid Bashevkin
(3)
Dovid Sears (1)
Eddy Portnoy (2)
Eitam Henkin (3)
Eli Genauer (13)
Eli Meyer Cohen
(1)
Eli Rubin (1)
Elie Wiesel (2)
Eliezer Brodt (148)
Eliezer Katzman
(1)
Eliezer Miller (1)
Eliyahu Bachur (1)
Eliyahu Krakowski
(1)
Elizabeth
The graves in the Ohel ha-Gra, from left to right, are numbered 20-27. Some of Blottstein-Blatt (1)
those numbers represent two graves of persons buried immediately next to each other.
Elliot R. Wolfson
Klausner, in his narrative, identifies the occupants of graves 20-27 as follows: (1)
Elliott Horowitz
(10)
Elyakim Krumbein
(1)
Encyclopeadia
Judaica (5)

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
Ezra Brand (6)
Gabriel
Wasserman (4)
Gaon of Vilna (4)
Gil S. Perl (1)
Golem (8)
HaGaon (5)
Halakhah (1)
Harry Freedman
(1)
Haym Soloveitchik
(1)
Hayyim Angel (1)
Herem (10)
Hilkhot Ha-
Medinah (3)
Historical
Haggadah (21)
Historical Oddities
(49)
History (1)
Illustrated Seforim
(14)
Immanuel of Rome
(3)
Isaiah Cox (1)
Ish Sefer (2)
Israel Drazin (2)
J. Jean Ajdler (1)
Jacob D. (1)
James A. Diamond
(2)
Jeremy Brown (3)
20. a) ‫ר' שלמה זלמן אבי הגר"א‬ Joey Rosenfeld
b)                            ‫ר' אליהו שתדלן‬    (2)
John M. Efron (1)
21. a) (‫ר' יהודה ב"ר אליעזר )יסו"ד‬ Jordan Penkower
(4)
b) (‫חיה אשת ר' יהודה ב"ר אליעזר )יסו"ד‬
Joseph Ringel (1)
Josh Rosenfeld
22.      ‫ר' צבי הירש פעסעלעס‬ (4)
Joshua Berman
23.          ‫דבורה פעסעלעס‬ (2)
Karaites (1)
24. ‫מינדה פעסעלעס ליפשיץ‬ Kuzari (1)
L. Weiss (1)
25. a)    ‫ר' נח מינדעס ליפשיץ‬ Lag Be-omer (2)
b)                      ‫הגר"א‬ Lawrence Kaplan
(2)
Legacy Judaica
26. ‫ר' ישכר בער אחי הגר"א‬ (1)
Leor Jacobi (3)
27. ‫ר' יהושע העשיל ב"ר שאול‬ Literary Forgery
(15)
This, then, is a complete list of all those who were buried in the original Ohel ha- Louis Jacobs (2)
Gra in the old Jewish cemetery. That Klausner has the order perfectly right can be seen Maimonides (3)
from the following photograph.
Making of a Godol
(8)
Marc B. Shapiro
(99)
Marc Michael
Epstein (1)
Marc Saperstein
(1)
Marvin J. Heller (2)

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
Mati Sprecher (3)
Mayer I. Gruber
(1)
Meir Hildesheimer
(1)
Menachem Kellner
(2)
Menachem Lazar
(1)
Michael J. Broyde
(6)
Michael K. Silber
(2)
Michael Rand (1)
Minhag (3)
Mitchell First (10)
Moritz
Steinschneider (5)
Moshe Idel (1)
Moshe Koppel (2)
Moshe Maimon (3)
Notice the inscription ‫ פ"נ הגאון רבינו אליהו‬in the center of the photograph, near Moshe Zuriel (2)
the roof-top of the Ohel. Turning to the extreme left of the Ohel, where the roof slopes Nancy Sinkoff (1)
down almost to the ground, one can see two grave markers above a single tombstone. Natan Ophir (1)
Nathan
Kamenetsky (3)
Nathaniel Helfgot
(1)
New Books (35)
Nitel (1)
Norman Roth (1)
Olivia Friedman
(1)
Onkelos (2)
Out-of-Print
Seforim (36)
Ovadya Hoffman
(1)
Oz Ve-hadar
Press (3)
Paul Shaviv (1)
Pauline Malkiel (1)
Pearl Herzog (1)
Pesach (23)
Pini Dunner (4)
Pinner Talmud (2)
Plagiarism (24)
Prayer (1)
printing errors (1)
When enlarged, the inscriptions above the tombstone clearly read (from left to Printing of the
right): ‫ פ"נ אבי הגר"א‬and ‫ר' אליהו שתדלן‬, exactly in the order recorded by Klausner (see Talmud (2)

above, grave number 20). When we compare Klausner’s list with the present occupants Purim (16)
of the Ohel ha-Gra, it becomes clear that those who moved the Gra from the first to the R. A.I. Kook (13)
third cemetery, moved the graves numbered 22-26, a total of six persons altogether, from Rabbi David Zvi
the original Ohel ha-Gra. The seventh grave, unmarked, remains unidentified and could Hoffmann (1)
have come from any part of the old cemetery, and not necessarily from the Ohel ha-Gra. Rabbi Jacob
Emden (1)

When we enter the Ohel ha-Gra today, we need to bear in mind that we are Rabbi Yehoshua
Mondshine (1)
entering from the south and looking north. We see the mirror image of what Klausner
depicted on his map. Thus the expected order today should be: Rabbi Yehuda
Halevi (1)
Rashi (1)
Rav Aharon
Lichtenstein (2)
Rav Kook (2)

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
Rav Tzair (2)
Relating to Siddur
(18)
Reuven Chaim
Klein (2)
Reuven Kimelman
(2)
Rodkinson (1)
Rosh haShana (6)
S.Z. Havlin (2)
Sabbatianism (4)
Samuel Heilman
(1)
Sara Reguer (1)
Sasha Abramsky
(1)
Satmar (1)
Saul Lieberman
(1)
The expected order solves all our problems. On the extreme right, Devorah and Seforim for Sale
her son R. Zvi Hirsch are buried next to each other. In the center, R. Noah and his wife (6)
Minda are buried next to each other. And the Gra is second from the left. It is the actual Shadal (2)
order that creates our problem. Devorah and R. Zvi Hirsch are separated; neither is
Shai Secunda (1)
buried next to his or her spouse. The Gra is buried in between R. Noah Lipshutz and his
Shaul Magid (2)
wife Minda. .‫אין זה אומר אלא דרשני‬
Shaul Seidler-
Feller (4)
One more piece of evidence needs to be introduced before we attempt to solve
Shavous (5)
the problem. Israel Cohen, British Zionist and world traveler, visited Vilna twice before
Shavuot (5)
World War II. Regarding the Shnipishok cemetery, he records the following:
Shaye J.D. Cohen
(1)
Most famous of all is the tomb of the Gaon Elijah, who lies in the
company of a few other pietists on a spot covered Shemini Atzeret
(1)
by a modest mausoleum which is entered by an iron-barred door.
Shimon
Szimonowitz (1)
Shlomo Carlebach
(1)
Shlomo Riskin (1)
Shlomo Sprecher
(6)
Shmaryahu
Shulman (1)
Shmuel Ashkenazi
(7)
Shnayer Leiman
(18)
Shnayor Burton
(1)
Shulamit Elizur (2)
Sid Leiman (1)
Simcha Emanuel
(1)
Simcha Feuerman
(1)
The tombstones, with long eulogistic epitaphs, Simchat Torah (1)
are not enclosed within the mausoleum, but stand at the back of it,
Steven Weiner (1)
in close juxtaposition and closely protected by a
Sukkot (1)
thick growth of shrubs and bushes.
Tanakh (3)
Israel Cohen, Vilna (Philadelphia, 1943), pp. 415-416. Cf. his Travels in Jewry (New York, Tevie Kagan (2)
1953), pp. 149-150. Title Pages (4)
Toledot Yeshu (1)
4. The Solution
Torah In Motion
(1)
It seems obvious that those who moved the Gaon to the new Jewish cemetery
Tovia Preschel (2)
made one slight adjustment relating to the ordering of the graves. They moved R. Zvi
Hirsch from the extreme right to the extreme left. We will never know with certainty why Type Setting (1)
they did so. What was gained, perhaps, is that now all the males were together on the

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
left, and all the females were together on the right. By moving R. Zvi Hirsch to the extreme Tzachi
left, the Gra was now the third grave from the left. But the actual order today appears to Hershkowitz (1)
have the Gra as the fourth grave from the left, and buried in between R. Noah and his wife Tzvi H. Adams (3)
Minda. Uzy Fuchs (1)
Warren Zev
We need to remember that in the old Jewish cemetery the tombstones were Harvey (1)
outside the Ohel ha-Gra, each tombstone opposite the remains of the person it
Wessely (1)
described, with text of the tombstone facing in a northerly direction. Indeed, every
William Gewirtz (5)
tombstone in the old Jewish cemetery was placed opposite the remains of the person it
described, with the text of the tombstone facing in a northerly direction. Yaacov Sasson
(2)
Yaakov Rosenes
(3)
Yaakov Shmuel
Spiegel (2)
Yaakov Stahl (1)
Yael Levine (1)
Yael Levine (2)
Yechiel Goldhaber
(9)
Yehuda Azoulay
(1)
Yehuda Henkin (2)
Yehudah Mirsky
(2)
Yirmiya Milevsky
(1)
Yisrael Dubitsky
(1)
Yisrael Kashkin
(2)
We also need to remember that the Gra and R. Noah shared one tombstone.5
Yisroel Gordon (1)
Yitshak Cohen (1)
Yitzchak
Jakobovitz (1)
Yitzchok Oratz (1)
Yitzchok Stroh (1)
Yitzhak - ‫בין דין לדין‬
(9)
Yoav Sorek (1)
Yoel Finkelman (1)
Yom Kippur (5)
Yosaif Mordechai
Dubovick (1)
Yosef Dubovick
(2)
Yosef Peretz (1)
Zerachya Licht (1)
Zev Wagner (1)
Zviah Nardi (1)
‫ וילנר‬.‫( אברהם י‬1)
‫איסר זלמן ווייסברג‬
(2)
‫( בעברית‬18)
The Gra’s epitaph was on the right side of the tombstone; R. Noah’s epitaph was ‫ברוך אבערלאנדער‬
on the left side of the tombstone. This was in perfect order, since inside the Ohel, the Gra (1)
was to the left of R. Noah, and R. Noah was to the left of, and next to, his wife Minda. In ‫( זאב וגנר‬1)
the new Jewish cemetery, the six graves were laid out exactly as in the old cemetery, with
‫( זרחיה ליכט‬1)
the exception of R. Zvi Hirsch as indicated. But it was decided to place the original
‫( יצחק זילבער‬1)
tombstones inside the Ohel, at the head of each of the graves. Instead of facing in a
northerly direction, with texts that could be read only by standing outside the Ohel, the ‫( עברית‬3)
tombstones, now reversed, faced in a southerly direction, with texts that could be read ‫( עקביא שמש‬6)
only when standing inside the Ohel. Doubtless, this was done in order to protect the ‫( שלמה הופמן‬1)
historic tombstones from exposure to the elements, from deterioration, and from
vandalism. Also, the tombstones now immediately identified who was buried in each
SEFORIMBLOG EDITORS
grave. Unfortunately, when the single tombstone shared by the Gra and R. Noah was
reversed and set up inside the Ohel, it automatically (and wrongly) identified the third

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon
grave from the left as R. Noah, and the fourth grave from the left as the Gra, and caused Dan Rabinowitz
a split between R. Noah and his wife. In fact, the Gra is the third grave from the left, and Menachem Butler
R. Noah is the fourth grave from the left – and R. Noah is properly buried next to his wife Eliezer Brodt
Shimon Steinmetz
Minda. In other words, all Jews who visit the grave of the Gra today, pray, and
leave qvitlach, at the wrong grave (i.e., at the grave of R. Noah Mindes Lipshutz).

The above solution was based upon an examination of the literary evidence, and
upon an examination of photographs preserved mostly in books. I call this ‫עד אחד‬ (one
witness), that is, the testimony of ‫תורה שבכתב‬ (i.e., the literary evidence). But a matter
established by only one witness is precarious at best.6 Intuitively I was persuaded by the
one witness, but hesitated to put the solution in print until more evidence was
forthcoming. Fortunately, a surprise second witness has come forward ‫בבחינת תורה שבעל‬
‫פה‬ (i.e., oral history). Rabbi Yitzhak Zilber (d. 2003) was a courageous Jew who lived
most of his life under Soviet repression between the years 1917 and 1972, before
ultimately settling in Israel. He published a riveting autobiography in Russian in 2003. It
has since been translated into Hebrew and English. In his autobiography, Zilber describes
how in 1970, under Communist rule, he visited the Ohel ha-Gra in Vilna. The Jew who
took him to the Ohel had participated in the transfer of the Gra from the first Jewish
cemetery in Shnipishok to the third Jewish cemetery in Saltonishkiu. As they stood before
the Gaon’s grave, the Jew turned to Zilber and said:7

Remember the following forever: the Gaon’s tombstone is above the

fourth grave from the left, but the Gaon’s body is in the third grave [from
the left].

!‫על פי שני עדים יקום דבר‬ “A matter is established by the testimony of two witnesses.”

NOTES

1
This essay should not be confused with an earlier essay of mine with a similar title,
“Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Mysterious Tale with Seven Plots,” Jewish
Action, Winter 1998, pp. 36-41. The primary focus of the earlier essay was on the
identification of the six persons buried together with the Vilna Gaon in his mausoleum (the
Ohel Ha-Gra). The primary focus of this essay is on the identification of the grave of the
Vilna Gaon himself. A version of this essay was read at a conference in honor of
Professor Daniel Sperber, held at Bar-Ilan University on June 13, 2011. It is presented
here in honor of the Vilna Gaon’s 215th yahrzeit on 19 Tishre, 5773.

2
The claim that the Vilna Gaon was moved temporarily from the first to the second
Jewish cemetery appears, among many other places,
in Y. Alfasi, ed., ‫דליטא חרבה‬ ‫( וילנא ירושלים‬Tel-Aviv, 1993), p. 9; Y. Epstein, ‫דער יידישער‬,"
"‫עולם אין ווילנע‬-‫בית‬ ‫ירושלים דליטא‬, October-November 1996, pp. 5-6; and N.N.
Shneidman, Jerusalem of Lithuania (Oakville, Ontario, 1998), p. 161. An examination of
eye-witness accounts of the reburial of the Gaon, and of much other evidence, yields the
ineluctable conclusion that the Gaon was moved only once, directly from the first to the
third Jewish cemetery.
3
See the references cited in the Jewish Action essay (above, note 1).
4
So reads the Hebrew sign above the entrance to the Ohel Ha-Gra. But the Ohel Ha-Gra
was constructed over a three-year period between 1956 and 1958. I cannot say with
certainty when the sign first went up, but logic dictates it did not go up before there was
an Ohel. In all the early photographs of the Ohel I have seen, there was no sign at all. It
surely wasn’t there during the period of Soviet domination of Lithuania, which means it
first when up sometime after 1991. As such, it is hardly evidence for who is buried in the
Ohel Ha-Gra. More importantly, one of the participants in the reinterment of the Vilna Gaon
testified that he and his colleagues wanted to move the remains of Avraham ben
Avraham, the Ger Zedek of Vilna, but could not locate his ashes in the old Jewish
cemetery. See R.Yitzchak Zilber, To Remain a Jew (Jerusalem, 2010), pp. 389-390.
5
For side by side transcriptions of the epitaphs on their tombstone, in clear Hebrew font,
see R. Noah Mindes Lipshutz, ‫( פרפראות לחכמה‬Brooklyn, 1995), p. 17.

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6
I was plagued by the remote possibility that the movers, precisely because the shared
tombstone required the Gaon to be to the right of R. Noah, switched the remains of the
Gaon and R. Noah, and deliberately buried the Gaon in between Minda and R. Noah. (I
considered this a remote possibility, because it is highly unlikely that any rabbi would
allow such tampering with who was buried to the immediate left and right of the Gaon. As
is well known, R. Hayyim Zvi Shifrin [d. 1952] presided over the reinterment of the Gaon.
See R. Yaakov Shifrin, ‫קול יעקב‬ [Jerusalem, 1981], pp. 26-30.) If so, all the tombstones
are accurately positioned in the Ohel Ha-Gra, even today. Cf. my deliberations
in American Jewish Monitor , October 24, 2003, p. 18.

7
R. Yitzchak Zilber, op. cit. (above, note 4), p. 389.
Posted by Dan Rabinowitz at 12:12 AM 1 Comment
Labels: Gaon of Vilna, Shnayer Leiman

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01/05/2018 the Seforim blog: Who is Buried in the Vilna Gaon’s Tomb? A Contribution Toward the Identification of the Authentic Grave of the Vilna Gaon

1 Comment Seforim Blog  Alberto Rodrigues

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Eli Mayer Cohen • 6 years ago

I read Dr. Leiman's article on the gaon's actual burial

place written in honor of the yahrzeit which fell on 19 tishrei chol hamoed
sukkos and if I may,it really gave me simchas yom tov.I would like to share
some comments and additional observations that were prompted by his piece.

1. I found it interesting that since the original layout of

the graves was in the order of husband wife wife husband why wouldn't the wife
(wives)of the gaon be buried aside him?

2.The "eidus" of Mr.Kav brought by R. Yitzchos

Zilber (pg.389) is definitely quite compelling,but he also quotes Kav as one
who "decided to save the tombs of the Gaon and his family members-children
siblings and parents.Altogether he moved 8 graves...".This may pose a flaw
in the testimony since we only know of 7 graves(one of them unmarked).Could it
be that the wife and the son were also transferred ( just without a tombstone)?
After all Kav said that children were included in this "decision"!
And the son of the Gaon,R.Avraham,would be potentially the ideal candidate
since he was also the son-in-law of R Noach Mindes thus making R Noach the
see more

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