THE VILNA GAON & THE BATTLE AGAINST HASIDISM 

Rabbi Dunner's history lectures are absolutely brilliant! Yasher Koach and please keep them coming!

Rabbi Dunner is an intelligent man with a great interest in history. Unfortunately, he has one critical flaw that undermines many of his lectures: he is a great cynic. He seems to believe that since the world around us has unfortunately been poisoned by a massive decline in morality and ethics, and even many of our fellow Charedi Jews (including rabbis) have fallen victim to it, it must be that everyone operates by these rules. Thus, he seems incapable of accepting the notion that there nonetheless remain some individuals who are truly pious and live by the highest ethical standards, and that even today -- let alone in generations past -- there are truly great Gaonim and Tzaddikim, who devote their lives to Torah and Avodas Hashem completely, and have no personal and political motivations in anything they do. Thus, to him, if the late Satmar Rav Zt"l strongly attacked Reb Moshe Feinstein Z"l when he permitted Charedi women to bear children using sperm donated by anonymous donors who were most likely Gentiles, it could not be that he did so because he felt this was a terrible psak and must be vehemently rejected; it must be because he was jealous of Reb Moshe's preeminence as a posek, and thus sought to undermine him so that he himself would be the preeminent posek (I am paraphrasing his claim in another RU-vid lecture). Likewise here, since the Gaon was acknowledged as a monumental gaon and holy tzaddik even by the greatest talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov, and since he nevertheless obviously came to a grossly erroneous conclusion regarding Chassidim and their great masters, most other intelligent talmidei chachamim who look objectively at this history have concluded that this is something that cannot be explained by common logic and must instead be viewed as something that was helped along by the Ribbono shel Olam for some reason that He alone saw necessitating this event. By contrast, for Rabbi Dunner, since his underlying assumption is that even the greatest leaders must be motivated by personal and political interests, he sadly concludes that this too was motivated by personal grudges and interests, and then, colored by this distorted assessment, he even ends up foolishly questioning the monumental greatness of the Gaon. And I say all this as a chossid, who comes from purely chassidim on both sides of my heritage.

Rabbi Dunner, This is the first time I heard anyone - rabbi or historian - describe the Vilna Goan’s prodigious abilities as a young child, accomplishments described by highly reputable talmidei chachomim, as hagiography. Does this flow from your reluctance to accept as true the statements of the Goan’s sons and others? Are you as suspicious about the description of Mozart’s extraordinary accomplishments as a young boy? How about those of Felix Mendelssohn? Camille Saint-Saens? Or today's Kit Armstrong or Alma Deutscher? He was called the Vilna Gaon for hundreds of years, his genius was heralded by contemporaries, students, even later chassidic talmidei chachomim including the Shoel U'Meishiv and the Kotzker Rebbe. Since his passing, no one assumed the official title as Rav of Vilna out of deference to him. R' Chaim Volozhiner revered him as he would the Rashba; R' Ahron Kotler would give shiurim on a "machlokes" between the Gra and Rishonim. What is the basis for your skepticsm nearly two hundred and fifty years after his passing?

Thank you very much, i was looking for a course about the opposition of the Mitnagdim/Sefaradim rabbis and the hassidim ones, is there a longer course somewhere ? 😊 Kol Touv !

MsRhuby was here February 7, 2023

46:07 the auto generated subtitler calls the Vilna Gaon a hooligan

As an ardent student of the Gaon, after listening to this enlightening review of his opposition against Chassidism, I draw the following conclusion: that the Gaon in his fierce opposition, did not realize that this ‘change’ ignited by the Chassidim movement in the 18th century, was exactly in line with the very Change that the Gaon predicted to come about in the ‘final hours’ countdown to the Geulah (Final Redemption). He analyzes this change in his book ‘Kol Hator’ which makes the following claims: “The Gaon merited being the light of Mashiach ben Yosef, in order to promote the ingathering of the exiles and to reveal the hints in the Torah regarding the footsteps of the Mashiach ben Yosef.” (Pg 1 last par.) ““The Gaon began revealing secrets of the Torah when he was 20 years old in 5500 [1740], during 'the first hour' of the morning on Friday in the 6th millennium. Then, the spirit of God, the spirit of the Mashiach, began to move in his holy spirit, to uncover mysteries in the Torah little by little in accord with the mission of the first Mashiach. These were revelations of the deep mysteries and profound secrets associated with the footsteps of the Mashiach, and no secret was hidden from him [the Gaon].” (4 Pg. 3). “Generally speaking, the beginning of the Redemption, otherwise known as the footsteps of the Mashiach, began the first hour of Friday morning [the 6th Day] in the 6th millennium, that is the year 5500 [1740], … Beginning with the second hour (i.e., from 5042 [1782]), the entire House of Israel entered the picture, both as a whole, and with regard to each individual member of the nation, as an order from above, of the Mashiach of the beginning of the Redemption.” (last par. Pg. 3). These ‘footsteps’ of the MbY as defined from ‘hints’ in the Torah, foresaw a total CHANGE in the practice of the Faith: “The existence and success of Mashiach ben Yosef depend on the awakening from below…” The Gaon describes this Awakening in great detail, all indicating a change from within the nation. it seems that the Chassidim movement could be part of the Change that the Gaon foresaw during the ‘last hours’, starting from 1740.- but he did not recognize it for what it was when it came along, partly thru Chassidim Movement and he opposed it heavily - just as he predicted that this Change would be opposed. Ref. www.kolhator.com/revelations-on-messiah-ben-yoseph-gaon-2/

Unfortunately I don’t believe that the perspective of the Bal Shem Tov and Magid being a tzadik is understood. I am not even sure that the idea of a Tzadik is understood. The summation that the Vilna Goan changed the course of a tzadik is way off. Tzadik Gozer Hashem mekayem. When you are talking about these Tzadikim ther course could only change from above. As you can see from the outcome Chassidim are great Jews. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz z’l was a chossid. And endless more. The fact that people can’t understand no problem. But at least understand the perspective of the Chassidim. The Bal Shem tov was a holy Tzadik destined to bring holiness to the Jewish people. Not the Vilna Goan or any one else could have changed that course. And they didn’t.

"Hasidem but I don't wanna be dem" - Vila Gaon

Very bad audio

Oy

If I was not an observant Jew and I listened to a speech from rabbi Dunner I would never consider becoming observant. This is what he brings to the table. Rabbi Dunner is a Maskil and doesn’t even realize it or perhaps he does.........

OY

What chutzpa! Hagiography indeed!