Elijah Vilna, Talmudist and commentator, born Selz, near Brzesc in 1720, died in Vilna, 1797. He is better known as the "Vilna Gaon" or as HaGRA, the abbrevation of haga'on rabbi 'eliyahu. The descendant of a long time of scholars, he won the reputation of a prodigy through his childhood feats of learning. At the age of seven he delivered a Talmudic lecture in the great synagogue at Vilna which caused a sensation in the community. He traveled here and there in his youth, but neither the time nor the duration nor the object of this peregrinations is certain, what was reported on this subject from Berlin, Prussian Lissa and Brody were embroidered with legends.
Elijah never held a public office, he taught only in small groups of pupils and friends and lived in the most modest circumstances. When he was only thirty-five, he was called upon by the sixty-five years old Jonathan Eybeschulz to render a decision in the latter's dispute about amulets. At that time Elijah already was on unquestioned and high authority on the Halachah, and famous as a critic and expounder of the Talmudic and Rabbinicwrittings; but he eagerly studied mathematics, astronomy and history as well, regarding them as auxiliary branches essesntial to a proper understanding of Talmudic and Rabbinic law. He wished that as many works as possible should be translated into Hebrew, since secular knowledge would contribute to a proper understanding of the Talmud. To his son Abraham he explained the necessity of a Hebrew translation of the writtings of Josephus; he even wished to utilize the knowledge of music for educational purposes. He recommended a change in the method of Jewish studies then prevalent in Germany, and Poland. Instead, he said, the Jewish student should first gain a knowledge of the entire contents of the Bible, including vocalization, accetiation and grammar, then the Mishnah, in which connection he laid great stress on a sound text; finally, a thoughtful study of the Talmud, with the careful use of Rashi and the Tosafoth as aids. Devotion to the truth must be the chief governing principle; in teaching the young, hair-splitting instructions were to be avoided. It is hardly to much say that Elijah Vilna was the highest representative of Polish and Lithuanian learning. He united the traditional knowledge of the bak beshas uposekim with the critical acumen of the modern scholar. He was the first Jewish scholar to realize the importance of exact text, and he was the founder of the internal criticism of the Talmud.
Elijah Vilna was an opponent of Hasidism, which he denounced for its pantheistic tendencies and placed under the ban. He forbade marriage with Hasidic families. He looked also with disfavor upon Hartwig Wessely's standardized method of education, and upon the sophistical Hilluk and Pilpul. 
Elijah is said to the written more then seventy works; most of these have been printed. His writtings include commentaries on the Bible, the Mishnah, the Tosefta, both Talmuds, the ShulhanAruch, the Haggadah, the Midrashim, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Seder Olam, the Passover Haggadah, the principle works of the Cabala, Maimonides and Asher ben Jehiel; he also wrote works on Biblical geography, chronology and archeology, and treatises on astronomy, trigonometry and algebra. All these works evince acute criticism, conciseness and wide comprehension. Modern in his use of sources - his frequent reference to the then almost entirely neglected Palestinian Talmud is one instance, he was at the same time, in the words of Ginzberg (Louis Ginzberg, author of "The Gaon, R. Elijah Wilna" (1920)) "the last theologian of classical rabbinism".
In his person endless goodness and firmness of character were united. Modesty, siplicity and piety were the outstanding features of his nature. He lived in quiet retirement honored by a universal respect. Several portraits of the Gaon have become well-known. His pupils included Rabbi Hayim, the founder of the celebrated Yeshiva at Volozhyn, Rabbi Solomon, the Vilna preacher, Zebi Hirsch, author of the commentary Margalioth Hatorah, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, author of the commentry Peath Hashulhan, on the laws of Palestine, and many others, who carried on the life-work of their master, stamped his impress on Lithuanian Yeshivas. 

Louis Levin 
Source: Universal Jewish Encyclopedia inc., NewYork, 1946, Vol.4., PP. 196-97.