Noun

1. Honorary title for a Jewish scholar who is noted for his wisdom and knowledge of the Talmud.
2. In modern usage, a genius.

Quotations

• 1991, Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=5mR5jX70oqwC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&sig=efbu3LMM7kVUrIzfWghTlqOeIXQ

  The Gaon also was distressed by the veneration the Hasidim accorded their rabbinic leaders, men whom the Gaon generally regarded as ignoramuses.

• 1996, Roger Friedland, Richard Hecht, To Rule Jerusalem http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=h27UQhGY9nwC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&sig=f-awfG-HhWgq48JD6okq8b_8Vp8

  Like the hasidim, he too refused the title of rabbi, adopting the ancient title of Gaon.

• 1997, Moshe Gil, A History of Palestine http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=M0wUKoMJeccC&pg=PA531&lpg=PA531&sig=ffm2drYu_SPO-Cgn9eM32oW2rhM

  The Gaon also mentions a letter he has received from Ḥasan as-ʻĀqūlī (al-ʻĀqūla, the ancient Aramaic name for Kūfa) undoubtedly one of the emigrants from Iraq to Egypt whom the Gaon knew.