Years: 1767–1831
Primary city: Illya
Rabbi Menashe of Ilya was a Lithuanian scholar and a talmid of the Vilna Gaon, noted for his rationalist approach to Torah study and his proposals for social and educational reforms. He authored several works, including Alfei Menashe and Pesher Davar, an appeal for reconciliation between Chassidim and their opponents. Though he lived most of his life in Ilya and briefly served as rabbi of his native Smorgon, he is regarded as a forerunner of the Haskalah movement within traditional rabbinic society.