Lithuania rejects Israeli request to transfer remains of Jewish sage the Vilna Gaon
The issue was reportedly first raised last August, when Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Lithuanian capital
By Daniel Sugarman Jewish Chronicle
Lithuania has refused the Israeli government’s request to transfer the remains of the Vilna Gaon, one of the most famous Jewish sages of the last 300 years.
The issue was reportedly raised last week during a visit to Jerusalem by Saulius Skvernelis, the Lithuanian Prime Minister, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Arnoldas Pikzirnis, Mr Skvernelis’s national security advisor, told AFP that the request to transfer the remains to Israel had been denied, because the “Vilna Gaon is an inseparable part of Lithuania’s Jewish community and Lithuania history.”
Born in 1720, Rabbi Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman, the Vilna Gaon (Vilna Genius) became known as the greatest rabbi of his generation.
Also known by the acronym of the G’ra (Gaon Rav Eliyahu), the scholar wrote noted commentaries on the Torah, Mishnah and Talmud.
According to AFP, the issue of the transfer of the Rabbi’s remains was first raised last August, when Mr Netanyahu visited the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. During his trip, Mr Netanyahu, together with his wife Sara, also visited the grave of the sage.
One of the leaders of what became known as the Misnagdim movement – Orthodox Jewry which was against the rise of Chassidic Judaism, the Vilna Gaon made at least one unsuccessful effort to visit the land of Israel.
After his death in 1797, in accordance with his wishes, hundreds of his disciples moved to Israel, originally to the city of Tzefat and then afterwards to Jerusalem.
The Vilna Gaon’s remains have already been moved once before. In the 1950s, the Soviet authorities allowed the remains to be removed before a stadium and concert hall were built on the site.
More than 90 percent of the Lithuanian Jewish community, which before the war numbered over 200,000, were murdered during the Holocaust.
The issue of the Rabbi’s remains was first raised last August, when Mr. Netanyahu visited the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Faina Kukliansky, a leader of the Lithuanian Jewish community who was also present in Jerusalem for the talks between the two Prime Ministers told AFP that the transfer of the remains was “out of the question”, citing the importance of the Torah scholar’s legacy to the Lithuanian Jewish community.