Editing Misnagdim (section)

==Opposition by the Vilna Gaon==
[[File:Vilna Gaon authentic portrait.JPG|thumb|180px|right|The [[Vilna Gaon]]]]
The [[Herem (censure)|excommunications]] against Hasidic Jews in 1772 was accompanied by the public destruction of early Hasidic pamphlets. The [[Vilna Gaon]], Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, a prominent rabbi, galvanized opposition to [[Hasidic Judaism]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bloomberg|first=Jon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVETCrICwO8C&dq=%22Misnagdim%22&pg=PA124|title=The Jewish World in the Modern Age|date=2004|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-88125-844-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Strom|first=Yale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aPXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Misnagdim%22|title=The Hasidim of Brooklyn: A Photo Essay|date=1993|publisher=Jason Aronson|isbn=978-1-56821-019-3|language=en}}</ref> He believed that the claims of miracles and visions made by Hasidic Jews were lies and delusions. A key point of opposition was that the Vilna Gaon maintained that greatness in Torah and Jewish religious observance must come through natural human efforts at [[Torah study]] without relying on any external "miracles" and "wonders". On the other hand, the ''Ba'al Shem Tov'' was focused on the emotional uplift of the Jewish people—especially following the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]] (1648 – 1654) and the aftermath and disillusionment of the failed messiahships of [[Sabbatai Zevi]] and [[Jacob Frank]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Katz|first=Mordechai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yc8qAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Misnagdim%22|title=Yesterday, Today, and Forever: From the Babylonian exile to the era of the Chassidim and Misnagdim|date=September 22, 2011|publisher=Feldheim|isbn=978-0-87306-790-4|location=Northwestern University|language=en|orig-year=1993}}</ref> Opponents of Hasidism held that its followers viewed their [[rebbe]]s idolatrously, if not as explicitly divine.

The Vilna Gaon expressed his disapproval of synagogues in which business was discussed and atheism openly believed, viewing them as disrespectful to sacred spaces. Other Jewish leaders criticized those claiming to be rabbis who did not honor [[Shabbat]] and ''[[Mitzvah|mitzvot]]''. Despite this, the Gaon encouraged the study of [[Gentile|non-Jewish]] wisdom and opposed the assimilation of the ''[[Haskalah]]'', aiming to enhance the spread of the Torah. It was noted that some who sought the role of rabbi did so out of a desire for power and recognition, a point often criticized in early Hasidism for lacking genuine pursuit of studying Torah for its own sake.

The Chabad-Lubavitch cannot help but recognize in the Vilna Gaon a true Jewish [[Chakham]] sage:<ref>Although today conversions to the Jewish religion (the “Ghiur”) are almost all accepted, within the “Jewish Orthodox world”, until 2000 this presented a serious problem due to the factions opposed to each other; there are cases of those who at the beginning, after the post-war period, had to perform the Ghiur again and this would not happen today apart from "very dubious situations" for example in the debate between Orthodox Judaism and Reform Judaism. The [[Chabad Lubavitch]] group was in open conflict with the Italian rabbis from 1970 to 2000, and even today, there remain divisions that are undoubtedly difficult to resolve, although there is communication and dialogue. Initially, the main schism was between [[Sephardim]] and [[Ashkenazim]], but during a famous meeting between rabbis, an attempt was made to harmonize the parties; the Haredim today unite both the new Chassidim and the others who are also among the most rigorous.</ref>

{{quote|Rabbi Moshe Meisels was originally a disciple of Rabbi Eliyahu, the Gaon of Vilna, and a member of the opposition to the Chassidic movement. He later became a devoted chassid of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, and, after the latter's passing, of Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch and of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch. Rabbi Moshe served as the leader of the Chassidic community in Vilna until 1816 when he made aliyah ("ascent") to the Holy Land and settled in Hebron, where he passed away in 1849<ref>[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1155/jewish/Bonaparte-and-the-Chassid.htm “Bonaparte and the Chassid” (www.chabad.org - Lubavitch)]</ref>}}