Reflections
The Aliya of the Talmidei haGra
One of the first aliyos of Jews to Eretz Yisrael in modern times was that of the talmidim of the Vilna Gaon. Together with them came several thousand Jews, who established Ashkenazi communities in Tzfat and in Yerushalayim.
Motty Meringer 01/06/2009 10:27
For the entire duration of Jewish history in the diaspora, the aspiration of many great Torah scholars as well as simple Jews has been to ascend to the Holy Land and to tread its sacred soil. Rav Eliyahu, known as the Vilna Gaon or the Gra, was no exception.
It is known that the Gaon made two attempts to travel to the Holy Land, but it is unclear during which period in his lifetime these occurred.
The only place in which the Gaon wrote explicitly of his intention to ascend to Eretz Yisrael is in a letter that he sent to his wife and his mother, in which he writes; “….there are people who travel for many years for financial reasons, leaving their wives behind, and they themselves wander about in great want – and I, praise to HaShem, am travelling to the Holy Land, which all yearn to behold – the delight of all Jews – thank G-d that I am travelling in peace…” At the conclusion of his letter the Gaon writes “….and if HaShem so wills it, then I will merit to arrive in Yerushalayim, the Holy City, in which are to be found the gates to Heaven, and I will entreat on your behalf, as I promised you – and if we will merit it, we will meet again, if the G-d of Mercy so wills it…”
For reasons that remain unknown, the Gaon was prevented from fulfilling his desire to reach Eretz Yisrael, but his ambition was inherited by his talmidim who eventually themselves ascended to the Holy Land in the context of the ‘aliya of the talmidei haGra’, and established there a Lithuanian settlement. Their aliya took place in three stages during which several hundred Jews arrived in Eretz Yisrael under the leadership of several of the most prominent of the Gaon’s students.
The first convoy of Jews arrived on the 8th of Ellul in the year 5569, headed by Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov, a leading talmid of the Gaon. At first they settled in the town of Tiberias, but soon enough they realised that Tiveria was already home to a large chassidish community. During these years, tensions between the chassidim and the misnagdim were at a height, and so, fearing that their close proximity would lead to an eruption of hostilities, the Gaon’s talmidim decided to leave for Tzfat, which only contained a tiny chassidishe kehilla – most of its Jewish inhabitants were Sefardim.
Around a year later, the second party of the Gaon’s talmidim arrived on the shores of Eretz Yisrael, this time led by Rav Saadiah ben Rav Nosson Nota of Vilna, and also including the son of Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov who had led the first aliya group. They joined the members of the first group in Tzfat, where the fledgling Ashkenazi kehilla was just beginning to blossom. At the end of that year, the third group of talmidim arrived, led by Rav Chaim ben Rav Tuvia Katz, and Rav Yisrael of Shklov – they too joined the previous two groups in Tzfat in Tishrei of the year 5570. Altogether, the three groups numbered some five hundred Jews, which constituted a considerable percentage of the total Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael of that time. In the coming decades, additional Jews arrived in the Holy Land in the wake of the aliyos of the Gaon’s talmidim, and all these in total amounted to some five thousand Jews.
Financially, however, times were very hard for the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, and it was just one short year after the arrival of the third group of the Gaon’s talmidim that they realised that if they wished their settlement to endure, they would have to send emissaries to the diaspora to raise funds. Rav Yisrael of Shklov, the leader of the third group of talmidim, was chosen as an emissary, and despite the difficulty of the task and his natural hesitance to leave the Holy Land, he did not shrink back from this holy mission, but departed for Lithuania. Indeed, it was only after three difficult years that he managed to return to Eretz Yisrael.
Additional support for the new settlers came from the leading talmid of the Vilna Gaon – Rav Chaim Volozhiner, who had remained in Lithuania. Although he himself had chosen not to accompany any of the groups to Eretz Yisrael, he assisted them by raising money which he then sent to Eretz Yisrael, and he also encouraged additional Jews to join the new settlements there.
In the year 5576, eight years after Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov had first arrived in the Holy Land, he decided to uproot himself from Tzfat and relocate to Yerushalayim, the Holy City. Several of the Tzfat community moved with him, but the majority of the Gaon’s talmidim remained behind. Their settlement in Yerushalayim constituted a reestablishment of the Ashkenazi presence in the city, which had been almost non-existent since the time when all Ashkenazim had been expelled from Yerushalayim, due to the large debts accumulated by the group of Jews who had arrived there under the leadership of Rav Yehudah haChassid. This tiny group headed by Rav Menachem Mendel that now arrived was to become the nucleus of the ‘Perushim’ kehilla of Yerushalmi Jews which still exists today.
The Gaon’s talmidim remaining in Tzfat now came under the leadership of Rav Yisrael of Shklov, for the next twenty-nine years until his petira on the 9th of Sivan in the year 5599. Their material situation remained fraught with difficulties despite the trickle of support arriving from abroad, and their suffering was compounded by various international crises which had local ramifications. In the year 5594, local Arab peasants revolted against the ruler of the Galil region, Ibrahim Pasha, who had been appointed by Muhammed Ali, the ruler of Egypt, to control the area. Since they lacked the means to overthrow him, the rioters vented their rage against the local Jewish population; for a period of thirty-six days they attacked the Jews and plundered them of all their belongings, so that the Jews were reduced to penury.
Following this, before the community had even managed to begin to recover, came the tragedy of the great earthquake on the twenty-fourth of Tevet, 5597. At the time that it occurred, Rav Yisrael of Shklov was not in Tzfat but in Yerushalayim, in the process of purchasing land for his community. Immediately upon hearing of the tragic events he hastened to send aid to the stricken in Tzfat and Tiberias, and also sent an urgent appeal for assistance to the Jews of Europe. Rav Yisrael did not return to dwell in Tzfat after the earthquake; he remained in Yerushalayim until his petira two years later.
After the earthquake, Druze peasants in the Galil region decided to continue the revolt against Egyptian rule, and again the Jews bore the brunt of their anger. The Druze stripped them of the few possessions remaining to them after the previous tragedies, until they were left utterly destitute. Thus the Ashkenazi community of Tzfat that had been established just thirty years before dissolved almost without a trace; the few survivors relocated to Yerushalayim where they found a measure of solace in that they had been preceded by a number of their group under Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov, so that they could be readily reabsorbed into communal life.
Thus the community in Yerushalayim grew into the large Perushim kehilla there and was the seed of all later Lithuanian communities in Eretz Yisrael.
It is known that the Gaon made two attempts to travel to the Holy Land, but it is unclear during which period in his lifetime these occurred.
The only place in which the Gaon wrote explicitly of his intention to ascend to Eretz Yisrael is in a letter that he sent to his wife and his mother, in which he writes; “….there are people who travel for many years for financial reasons, leaving their wives behind, and they themselves wander about in great want – and I, praise to HaShem, am travelling to the Holy Land, which all yearn to behold – the delight of all Jews – thank G-d that I am travelling in peace…” At the conclusion of his letter the Gaon writes “….and if HaShem so wills it, then I will merit to arrive in Yerushalayim, the Holy City, in which are to be found the gates to Heaven, and I will entreat on your behalf, as I promised you – and if we will merit it, we will meet again, if the G-d of Mercy so wills it…”
For reasons that remain unknown, the Gaon was prevented from fulfilling his desire to reach Eretz Yisrael, but his ambition was inherited by his talmidim who eventually themselves ascended to the Holy Land in the context of the ‘aliya of the talmidei haGra’, and established there a Lithuanian settlement. Their aliya took place in three stages during which several hundred Jews arrived in Eretz Yisrael under the leadership of several of the most prominent of the Gaon’s students.
The first convoy of Jews arrived on the 8th of Ellul in the year 5569, headed by Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov, a leading talmid of the Gaon. At first they settled in the town of Tiberias, but soon enough they realised that Tiveria was already home to a large chassidish community. During these years, tensions between the chassidim and the misnagdim were at a height, and so, fearing that their close proximity would lead to an eruption of hostilities, the Gaon’s talmidim decided to leave for Tzfat, which only contained a tiny chassidishe kehilla – most of its Jewish inhabitants were Sefardim.
Around a year later, the second party of the Gaon’s talmidim arrived on the shores of Eretz Yisrael, this time led by Rav Saadiah ben Rav Nosson Nota of Vilna, and also including the son of Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov who had led the first aliya group. They joined the members of the first group in Tzfat, where the fledgling Ashkenazi kehilla was just beginning to blossom. At the end of that year, the third group of talmidim arrived, led by Rav Chaim ben Rav Tuvia Katz, and Rav Yisrael of Shklov – they too joined the previous two groups in Tzfat in Tishrei of the year 5570. Altogether, the three groups numbered some five hundred Jews, which constituted a considerable percentage of the total Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael of that time. In the coming decades, additional Jews arrived in the Holy Land in the wake of the aliyos of the Gaon’s talmidim, and all these in total amounted to some five thousand Jews.
Financially, however, times were very hard for the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, and it was just one short year after the arrival of the third group of the Gaon’s talmidim that they realised that if they wished their settlement to endure, they would have to send emissaries to the diaspora to raise funds. Rav Yisrael of Shklov, the leader of the third group of talmidim, was chosen as an emissary, and despite the difficulty of the task and his natural hesitance to leave the Holy Land, he did not shrink back from this holy mission, but departed for Lithuania. Indeed, it was only after three difficult years that he managed to return to Eretz Yisrael.
Additional support for the new settlers came from the leading talmid of the Vilna Gaon – Rav Chaim Volozhiner, who had remained in Lithuania. Although he himself had chosen not to accompany any of the groups to Eretz Yisrael, he assisted them by raising money which he then sent to Eretz Yisrael, and he also encouraged additional Jews to join the new settlements there.
In the year 5576, eight years after Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov had first arrived in the Holy Land, he decided to uproot himself from Tzfat and relocate to Yerushalayim, the Holy City. Several of the Tzfat community moved with him, but the majority of the Gaon’s talmidim remained behind. Their settlement in Yerushalayim constituted a reestablishment of the Ashkenazi presence in the city, which had been almost non-existent since the time when all Ashkenazim had been expelled from Yerushalayim, due to the large debts accumulated by the group of Jews who had arrived there under the leadership of Rav Yehudah haChassid. This tiny group headed by Rav Menachem Mendel that now arrived was to become the nucleus of the ‘Perushim’ kehilla of Yerushalmi Jews which still exists today.
The Gaon’s talmidim remaining in Tzfat now came under the leadership of Rav Yisrael of Shklov, for the next twenty-nine years until his petira on the 9th of Sivan in the year 5599. Their material situation remained fraught with difficulties despite the trickle of support arriving from abroad, and their suffering was compounded by various international crises which had local ramifications. In the year 5594, local Arab peasants revolted against the ruler of the Galil region, Ibrahim Pasha, who had been appointed by Muhammed Ali, the ruler of Egypt, to control the area. Since they lacked the means to overthrow him, the rioters vented their rage against the local Jewish population; for a period of thirty-six days they attacked the Jews and plundered them of all their belongings, so that the Jews were reduced to penury.
Following this, before the community had even managed to begin to recover, came the tragedy of the great earthquake on the twenty-fourth of Tevet, 5597. At the time that it occurred, Rav Yisrael of Shklov was not in Tzfat but in Yerushalayim, in the process of purchasing land for his community. Immediately upon hearing of the tragic events he hastened to send aid to the stricken in Tzfat and Tiberias, and also sent an urgent appeal for assistance to the Jews of Europe. Rav Yisrael did not return to dwell in Tzfat after the earthquake; he remained in Yerushalayim until his petira two years later.
After the earthquake, Druze peasants in the Galil region decided to continue the revolt against Egyptian rule, and again the Jews bore the brunt of their anger. The Druze stripped them of the few possessions remaining to them after the previous tragedies, until they were left utterly destitute. Thus the Ashkenazi community of Tzfat that had been established just thirty years before dissolved almost without a trace; the few survivors relocated to Yerushalayim where they found a measure of solace in that they had been preceded by a number of their group under Rav Menachem Mendel of Shklov, so that they could be readily reabsorbed into communal life.
Thus the community in Yerushalayim grew into the large Perushim kehilla there and was the seed of all later Lithuanian communities in Eretz Yisrael.
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Jewish Settlement in Yerushalayim The tale of Jewish settlement in Yerushalayim; a history beginning from the times of Dovid haMelech and spanning up until the present day. During almost all of the intervening years there was a constant Jewish presence in the holy city, a presence more constant than in any other centre of Jewish residence.
Valley of Death: Babi Yar One of the most notorious locations used by the Germans for their mass executions was the ‘Babi Yar’ valley near the city of Kiev, Ukraine. Here, the Nazis shot over fifty thousand holy Jews into a communal grave. May Hashem avenge their deaths.