Tzurath Ha’aretz LeGevulotheha [commentary to selected verses from the Books of Joshua, Kings and Ezekiel, with text].

ELIJAH, GAON OF VILNA.

Aryeh Leib ben Schneor Feivish

Shklow

1802

FIRST EDITION. Printed on blue tinted paper. Wide-margined copy.

Vinograd, Shklow 124; Vinograd, Gr’a 22-24; D. Kamenetsky, Torath HaGr’a (2017) pp. 5-36 and 329-32.

In this work the Vilna Gaon drew upon his extensive knowledge of geography and architecture in Biblical interpretation. The Gaon viewed such knowledge as an aid to Torah study and disapproved of the lack of interest in secular sciences that existed among certain Talmudists. On the broader relation between the Gaon and the sciences, see I. Atkes, The Gaon of Vilna: The Man and His Image (2002) pp. 37-72; and E. Stern, The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism (2013) pp. 63-82. This Shklow edition was not written by the Gaon himself but by his students. The second edition, published in 1820 by the Gaon’s grandson R. Ya’akov Moshe of Slonim, contains a number of variances from the first edition, some of which are based upon a manuscript.