Vil Nor in Yiddish means “if only you will it”, a popular saying referred to the great scholar the Gaon (genius) of Vilnius ( 1720-1797) , a saying that suggest that if you want it enough- nothing is out of reach. Some hundred years later, Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the modern Jewish state, coined the phrase: if you will- it is no legend. VIL NOR is a legend, a fairy tale in black & white. A personal interpretation of what history failed to tell. It wonders whether dreams should be actually followed at all.
In the mid 18 the century Rabbi Eliyahu, the Ga’on (Genius) of Vilnius , left his home and community and set out on a journey to the Land of Israel.
He never reached the Holy Land. The Ga’on returned to Vilnius and never saying why.
Although, over the years, there have been various speculations, this episode remains a mystery.
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