R. Elijah, the Gaon of Vilna

"In Vilna one was taught how to study," recalled the Rebbe. "In Mezeritch one could learn how to pray..."

Passing of the famed Talmudist and Kabbalist, Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna (now Vilinus), Lithuania (1720-1797), known as the "Vilna Gaon." Rabbi Eliyahu was the leading figure in the opposition to the Chassidic movement in its early years.

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Schapiro heard Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik retell the story of the Alter Rebbe’s attempt to visit the Vilna Gaon, as it had been passed down through his own family, all the way back to the Gaon’s chief disciple.

Kabbalah explains the connection between the Hebrew months of Sivan and Tammuz