Living Torah Archives

Detractors to chasidism still point to the Vilna Gaon’s opposition as the basis upon which they rely. But would the Vilna Gaon count himself among them today? (from a 1963 encounter)

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.