Student of The Vilna Gaon
Both he and his elder brother Simcha (d. 1812) studied under Rabbi Aryeh Leib Gunzberg the author of the Shaagas Aryeh, who was then rabbi of Volozhin, and afterward under Rabbi Raphael ha-Kohen (the author of the Toras Yekusiel), later of Hamburg.
Aged 25, he was attracted by the fame of the Vilna Gaon, and he became one of the his most prominent disciples. Submitting to his new teacher's method, he began his studies anew, taking up again Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, and even Hebrew grammar. His admiration for the gaon was boundless, and after his death Chaim virtually acknowledged no superior (see Heschel Levin's "Aliyyot Eliyahu", pp. 55-56, Vilna: 1889 OCLC 77975422).
Read more about this topic: Chaim Volozhin
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