ZJB: One of the many things done well over at Alan Brill’s blog are the interviews with scholar-colleagues. This one is with Eli Stern about his just published book about the modernity of the Vilna Gaon. I’m not sure I’m going to be persuaded, but it’s all going to depend on what one means by “modernity” and what a CentralEuro centric like myself ends up learning about the Vilna Gaon. I’m already beginning to think that Stern is onto something. Will report back later.