This is from page 2 of the Camden News of Camden, Arkansas Saturday, May 15, 1937.
Since someone is going to joke that the Vilna Gaon is not wearing a yarmulke, but the Cardinal is - well, I already beat you to it.
I suppose the authors of this cartoon were aware of the Gra's comment to Orach Chaim 8:2 that אין איסור כלל בראש מגולה לעולם רק לפני הגדולים. The thing is, they knew he was a gaon but they didn't know he was also a chassid; אסור להוציא הזכרה בראש מגולה ג"כ מדת חסידות הוא. Or that he was also one of the gedolim, I guess.
(Yes, Ripley's Believe It Or Not did run something on the Gaon in the 1920s - perhaps 1929 - and yes, this cartoon is probably inspired by it. The reader who knows who he is should know that I still haven't found the original Ripley's, but I will. The text is easily available though, and went something like this:
The Mental Marvel, Elijah, the Gaon, chief Rabbi of Lithuania, possessed such a prodigal memory that he never forgot a book once he read it. Prof. Graetz, noted contemporary historian, states that the Gaon committed to memory 2500 volumes. He knew by heart the Bible, Midrash, Mekilta, Sifre, Tosefta, Seder Olam, the Talmud, the Zohar, the Code, Rashi, Rambam and many other religious texts and could quote any passage at will.I'm not 100% sure this is exactly the original text, but we'll know when we know. I also didn't try to find the source misunderstood in Graetz. My tentative guess is that the number 2500 refers to roughly the number of pages in the Tamud Bavli. I once read an interesting thing about how Ripley 's researcher - yes, he had a researcher - sat in the NYPL and read all day.)
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What actual eyewitness accounts do we have of the Gra having TOTAL recall of a book after a single read? To be conversant in the general contents of many books, espeically when nearly all of them overlap with each other, is not that big a deal.
ReplyDeleteIt's intressante - there is an enormous amount of legends concerning the supposed abilities of both the Gra and the Ari. Both of them spent a lot of time in seclusion, and both of them never really published anything in their lifetime. Seems to me these facts gave license to people to make up anything they want, or any claim they wanted, and attribute it to the Gra [or Ari] because, you know, who could refute it?
"What actual eyewitness accounts do we have of the Gra having TOTAL recall of a book after a single read? "
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that's even part of the Vilna Gaon legend. Is it?
Anyway, good memory is a gift, and cultivating it is a possibility.
Or Ha-chaim? Orach Chaim?
ReplyDeleteSigh. Yes, thank you.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion. it is better to be depicted as Rasputin, compared to a masculine girl from the 20s (and having your name misspelled as Mezzofanti).
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that only 1 out of 3 dates is correct.
ReplyDeleteMezzofanti was known to speak 39 languages and dialects(some of them closely related, such as Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinical Hebrew, or Chaldean and Syriac).
But then again, we are taking about Camden, Arkansas.
Should be 1720-1797. No?
ReplyDeleteYes, but it's possible that it wasn't scanned well (though it really does like it probably did say 1791).
ReplyDeleteNow, Shimon, what's wrong with Camden, Arkansas?
Correct me, but isn't OC 8:2 about covering one's head with the tallit, and not about wearing a yarmulka?
ReplyDeleteWell, according to the post, the Gra could read a book once and remember it word for word [=total recall] for the rest of his life. Hence etc.
ReplyDeleteSimon, yes, but the Gra's lengthy comments discuss covering generally as well.
ReplyDelete> The Mental Marvel, Elijah, the Gaon, chief Rabbi of Lithuania, possessed such a prodigal memory
ReplyDeleteProbably 'prodigious'.
Nope. It is "prodigal."
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a mistake, the sort that the autodidact might have made (and Ripley and his researcher were not exactly Harvard types). But I did do a little searching to see if anyone else had ever made the same mistake, and it turns out that "prodigal memory" is not that uncommon. You can even make a case that using one of its subdefinitions the word is not wholly inappropriate.
"The reader who knows who he is should know that I still haven't found the original Ripley's, but I will."
ReplyDeleteI've let your blog drop off my radar (sorry!) but I finally decided to take a peek through the past four months of posts. I think you were referring to me. I wish you continued success in your research and your blog in general!
Phil
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ReplyDeleteI have the original Ripley's picture. The GRA was my great-great-great-great Grandfather.
ReplyDelete