The Perushim were disciples of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, who left Lithuania at the beginning of the nineteenth century to settle in the Land of Israel, then under Ottoman rule. The name Perushim comes from the parash, meaning "to separate", because this ascetic group attempted to separate themselves from what they saw as the impurities of the society around them. (Note that this was the same name by which the Pharisees of antiquity were known). Influenced by the Vilna Gao… (More on Perushim)