Scandinavia and the Baltics - Part 9 - Vilna

After arriving in Vilna a little after 1 PM on Wednesday, we were met by our tour guide Meny (Menachem).

We packed our luggage into his van and off we went to the burial place of the Gaon of Vilna.

His actual name was Eliyahu and his father’s name was Shlomo Zalman, with the family name of Kramer.

He lived from 1720 to 1797. From an early age, it was recognized that he possessed a photographic memory and a special mind. 

The word “Gaon” means “acclaimed genius”. Over the millennia, the title Gaon has been reserved for a very unique group of scholars; the select few.

In recent years, it seems that the title has been attached to the title of many Rabbis and every Rosh Yeshiva. It appears to me that this has cheapened the importance of the title Gaon.

But in the city of Vilna in the 1700s, in an era when Jewish scholarship flourished, when the city of Vilna was named the Jerusalem of Lithuania, there was only one Gaon. There could be no other. He was also known by the acronym “GRA”, taken from the first letters of “Gaon Rav Eliyahu”.

He wrote commentary on every area of Jewish scholarship; but it was not just Jewish scholarship. He was recognized as an expert in mathematics and astronomy, science, music, philosophy and linguistics. 

His knowledge of mathematics did not come from formal training in the subject but rather from studying the texts of Torah and Talmud, he was able to deduce mathematical principles and formulae. 

He said that if one does not understand mathematics, astronomy and science, one cannot fully understand or appreciate Torah. 

Because of the Gaon’s holiness in life, it is customary to visit the resting place of his soul, and to use it as a “launching pad” for one’s personal prayers to ascend to heaven; a most appropriate place to pray for good health for yourself and your family. Many people who are aware of your travel to such a holy place may also ask that you “put in a good word for them as well”, and it is customary to mention their names at this holy site. 

We drove a short distance from the Vilna airport to a cemetery in Saltonishkiu in the Sheshkines region; the cemetery that is still in use today by the Jewish community in Vilna.

However, it should be noted that this is not the first resting place of the Vilna Gaon. It is possibly the third and at least the second location of his grave. Over the hundreds of years of Jews living in Vilna, there have been a total of three cemeteries. The first one called “der alter feld “ or in Hebrew בית עולם הישן, served as the main Jewish cemetery until 1830 when it ran out of space. The author of the Chaye Adam, Rav Avraham Danzig was buried there. 

The second cemetery was in the neighbourhood called Zaretcha, and buried there were many famous scholars including Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, who died of cancer in 1940. It too ran out of space in 1940 with over 70000 people buried there. 

Shortly before the war, the community dedicated a new cemetery in Saltonishkiu. This is still in use by the present Vilna Jewish community and there are about 7000 graves there now.

The Vilna Gaon who died in 1797 was obviously buried in the first Jewish Cemetery. 

When Russia’s Stalin destroyed the cemetery to make use of the land for a soccer stadium and for apartments, the Gaon was moved perhaps to the second cemetery, but definitely to the third, where his Ohel (family plot) is situated today. 

The Lithuanians continued the desecration of Jewish burial spots even after they gained independence from Russia and it took condemnation from the US Congress to get them to agree to no further desecrations in the future. 

The second cemetery in Uzupis, active from 1828 till 1943, was destroyed by the Soviets in the 1960s when they also destroyed the Great Synagogue of Vilna. Currently there are teams of archaeologists working to piece together the old Synagogue complex and they have found parts of the amud and bimah; that work is ongoing. 

When the Soviets destroyed Cemetery #2, its tombstones as well as tombstones from the first destroyed cemetery were used all over Vilna for staircases. Our guide told us that the entire stairway in the Vilna Reformed Evangelical Church was built using matzeivos. Following an outcry, many of these tombstones have been removed and there is a temporary display at the old cemetery and plans for a everlasting memorial. 

When arriving at the kever of the Gaon, you are facing an Ohel or a structure, that contains the graves of noted individuals or rabbis and which sometimes contain graves of their family or people connected to them in some other way. 

The Ohel of the Gaon contains 7 graves and there has been considerable dispute as to the identity of the other six. Because they have all been moved at least once or twice, and moved not by the Jewish Burial Society but by Soviets or Lithuanians, one cannot say with absolute confidence who the other six are, and also in which order they lay resting within the Ohel. I recently read a scholarly article which claims that when they were moved, they were reinterred left to right and the tombstones were placed right to left, so that the tombstone for the Gaon is in place three while the Gaon’s remains are in place 4. 

We recited a number of prayers and prayed there for our family, and for a speedy recovery for those friends and family who are ill. 

I have studied a number of works by the Vilna Gaon and always marvel at his knowledge and insight. And when I see a mathematical calculation by him, I always note that he came to his conclusions without calculators or computers or the internet. For this reason, I was in total awe standing at the feet of such a Gaon, such a genius, such a leader of Israel. 

There is a tradition that buried in the same Ohel is the noted Ger Tzedek (righteous convert) of Vilna. In the time of the Gaon, Valentin Potocki, born to a prominent Polish Catholic Family, was studying at a Catholic seminary in Paris when he encountered a rabbi studying the Talmud and Torah. Curious, Valentin asked if he could be taught the ancient texts. Over a short period of time he became proficient in Hebrew and decided to convert. 

Converting to Judaism in Poland in the 1700’s was punishable by death at the stake, and so he moved to Amsterdam where he took on the convert’s name Avraham Ben Avraham. He then moved to Vilna (part of Poland at the time) and fearing discovery and its consequences, consulted with the Vilna Gaon, who advised him to move to a smaller town. He moved to Ilya and sat in the synagogue studying the ancient texts.

He was ultimately discovered and reported to the Bishop of Vilna who had him arrested and sentenced to death. His parents pleaded with him to renounce his Judaism which would reverse the evil decree, but he refused. Ultimately, he was burnt at the stake on the second day of Shavuot, May 23, 1749. The Vilna Gaon gained access to the Ger Tzedek’s ashes and buried him in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Vilna. When the Gaon died, he was buried next to the Ger Tzedek. In 1927, the Vilna community erected a monument on his grave, would commemorate his Yartzeit on the second day of Shavuot and recite memorial prayers.

After the Nazis destroyed the cemetery, the Soviet Union granted permission in 1949 to move the remains of the Vilna Gaon and a number of others, including the ashes of the Ger Tzedek. 

We walked a bit further and visited the final resting places of the rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevesz Yeshiva and Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski. One interesting anecdote about Rav Chaim Ozer is that in the 1900’s, he was considered the Gadol Hador, the halachic leader of world Jewry. He was offered the position as Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem and turned it down as he did not wish to leave his flock in Vilna. He was offered the position as Chief Rabbi of Vilna, but refused because there was a time honoured tradition that after the Gaon, no one could ever be called the Chief Rabbi of Vilna. 

We left the cemetery and drove a short distance to what appeared to be a forest. When we parked the car, beside us was a monument of headstones with an explanatory monument; next to it was a fenced off area with hundreds of headstones strewn over the entire area, and finally, immediately across the road from us was the forest with a single, solitary grave and headstone, that appeared to be recently built.

We had arrived at the second Vilna cemetery in Uzupis, active from 1828 till 1943, and destroyed by the Soviets in the 1960s. As a result of international pressure, at the beginning of the 21st century, Lithuanian officials began to repatriate Jewish headstones that were used as building materials all over Lithuania, including from the Reformed Evangelical Church steps,  and return them here to Uzupis. 

The monument was erected using those headstones. The random headstones strewn all over the fenced in yard were part of a work in progress to continue collecting destroyed and defiled Jewish headstones. 

We now turned our attention to the single grave across the road. But first a little background.

Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibowitz (1862 - 1939) was a noted Torah scholar and served as the Rosh Yeshiva of the famous Slabodka Yeshiva from 1904 till his passing in 1939. During that time because of unrest in the area, he was forced to move the Yeshiva to various cities including Kaminetz, and shortly before his death, at the urgent direction of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, who saw the coming onslaught of the Nazi forces, he moved the Yeshiva to Vilna. He was known as the star pupil of Rav Chaim Brisker Soloveitchik, who was the head of the famous Yeshiva in Volozhin.

Shortly after arriving in Vilna, Rav Boruch Ber’s health took a turn for the worse and his last words were “the rebbe has come to meet me” and then just before he passed, he recited the Torah verse “v’shavti b’sholom el bais avi” “and I will return in peace to my fathers home”. This was interpreted by those nearby as Rav Baruch Ber, sensing death, was preparing himself to once again meet his Rebbe, Rav Chaim Brisker, and his request to be buried next to his father, who was buried in the Uzupis cemetery where we were presently standing. And if that was his last request, it had to be fulfilled. But there was one problem.

There was no room in that cemetery and Rav Baruch Ber’s father was buried at the very end of a row, right next to the road.  The rows on either side were similarly full. 

So the decision was made to bury him between two rows, perpendicular to his father’s grave. The Nazis invaded soon thereafter and Reb Baruch Ber’s grave never had a headstone. 

In the 1960s, the Soviets totally destroyed the cemetery, planted trees and Uzupis became a forest, without a trace of the tens of thousands of Jews buried there as their final resting place. It is quite remarkable and sad when standing facing this forest that was once a vast Jewish burial ground. People approaching this forest would think that this is a great place for a “walk in the park” never knowing that they are trampling on the graves of up to 70000 Jews.

As we crossed the street and read the lone headstone in this vast forest, it was indeed the grave of Rav Baruch Ber.

Our guide, Meny, now filled in some of the blanks. He recounted how 5 or 6 years ago, he was contacted by the descendants of Rav Baruch Ber who were interested in locating the burial place of their noted ancestor. They knew certain facts. He was buried in this forest. He was buried perpendicular to all the other graves. They also knew from testimony of three people still living, who were at his funeral, that next to his grave, there were steps leading from the height of the cemetery down to the street.

Using old maps of the cemetery, they estimated sizes of rows and estimated that Rav Baruch Ber’s grave should be in this general vicinity. They hired a backhoe and without permission began to dig, hoping at some point to find the steps and thereby locate his burial place. After considerable effort, and consulting with noted experts in the field of locating ancient Jewish cemeteries, and after being reported to the authorities and intense negotiations to allow them to continue, they struck paydirt. They found the steps, they found two rows of graves and found one single solitary grave perpendicular to all the other graves. They had found Rav Baruch Ber. 

The family erected the headstone 75 years after his passing. Today people from all over the world come to say tefillot and pray at his grave. He finally has his final resting place. 

It is a dramatic sight; a huge forest, one single solitary grave with a huge headstone, standing as a memory for a great Torah leader, but perhaps also as the single witness that here stood the final resting place of many of the Jews of Vilna, the Jerusalem of Lithuania. 

We now drove into the city of Vilna, the capital and largest city of Lithuania with 550,000 residents. 

We really did not experience any of the city other than the old town, which houses the single shul and the site of the two Vilna Ghettoes. We walked through the ghetto and Meny pointed out to us many important sites including the home of the Gaon, the statue of the Gaon, Jew Street, Gaon Street and explained how life was conducted within the two ghettoes. The smaller ghetto lasted only 6 weeks, but long enough to massacre 10000 Jews in the Panery Forest, ten kilometres from the city. In the morning we will visit Panery Forest. 

We walked from here to the shul. This is not the Great Synagogue which was totally destroyed by the Soviets. This is the Torah Hakodesh Synagogue, built in 1903, and which survived the war, because it was used as the distribution centre for Nazi medical supplies. It is the only synagogue out of approximately 100 synagogues to survive the war. The current Rabbi is Rabbi Krinsky and it follows Chabad tradition. It is an attractive shul but looks like it is in need of considerable repair and renovation. 

Before the war, there were 100,000 Jews in Vilna, 45% of the total population. 

Walking the streets, you have a sense of history, of the vibrancy of Jewish life that once was and today is but a memory. 

Lithuania does not feel like a very friendly place. Both of us are cognizant of the fact that the streets of Lithuania are flowing with Jewish blood and despite the efforts of Chabad and others to service the few remaining Jews in Vilnius and other places, ultimately all we see here are dilapidated monuments to an era of flourishing Jewish life, that has unfortunately been erased and destroyed. 

Tomorrow, Panery Forest, Alytus and Kovno.

All the best

Fran and David