Soviet authorities may allow the transfer of the remains of the Vilna Gaon to Israel, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin of Moscow, indicated in a letter to Dr. Zvi Harkavi, Jerusalem biographer, it was disclosed here today.
Dr. Harkavi had written on the matter to the Moscow Chief Rabbi, who replied that the time was propitious for a formal request to Soviet authorities. Rabbi Levin indicated there was every prospect that permission would be granted. Rabbi Levin indicated with regret that it would be impossible to locate the grave of Rabbi Meir Leibush Malbim in the Jewish cemetery in Kiev for a similar transfer.
Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman, the Gaon of Vilna, was one of the leading scholars of East European Judaism. He fought the Hassidic movement as a threat to Judaism. Born in Lithuania, he died in 1797. Rabbi Meir Leibush Malbim, another East European Jewish scholar, was noted for his commentary on the Bible. He died in 1879.
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