The Vilna Gaon
Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman
One of the most important rabbinic figures in Jewish history. His intellectual authority shaped the course of Eastern European Judaism for two centuries. According to Chaim Freedman's reconstruction, he is the great-grandfather of Khana Reizel, David Zmud's wife.
Documented1720 – 1797
The Vilna Gaon lived in Vilna, Lithuania, from 1720 to 1797, and his intellectual authority was so great that it shaped the course of Eastern European Judaism for the following two centuries.
Thousands of families around the world trace their descent from him today, and the Komisaruk family is one of the established branches: Freedman considers that descent proven, including by genetic testing. If Khana Reizel, David Zmud’s wife, belongs to that branch, as Freedman proposes, this family connects with the Gaon.
It is worth saying what that would mean and what it would not. It would mean that there is a chain of four names between the Gaon and the woman who went with David to the southern colonies, published in the reference work on the subject. The last link, the one joining her to the Komisaruks, is the one that is not documented. Nor would it make this family different from any other: four generations down, the Gaon’s descendants already numbered in the thousands.