Vilna, called by East European Jewry, especially in the modern period, the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" (Yerushalayim de-Lita), was already a preeminent center for rabbinical studies by the beginning of the 17th century. Among scholars born in Vilna were R. Joshua Hoeschel ben Joseph and R. Shabbetai ha-Kohen, who served as dayyan of the community. The rabbi of Vilna in the middle of the 17th century was Moses b. Isaac Judah Lima. The existence of a talmud torah is reported in the second half of the 17th century, when a fund was also established by a philanthropist for the support of students. Among the scholars of Vilna in the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th were R. Moses, called Kremer, a forefather of Elijah Gaon; his son-in-law Joseph, author of Rosh Yosef, halakhic and aggadic novellae (Berlin, 1716); R. Baruch Kahana, known as Baruch Harif; the grammarian Azriel and his two sons Nisan and Elijah; and Zevi Hirsch Kaidanover (Kaidany). Vilna's preeminence as the seat of Jewish learning continued in the 19th century. When the government commenced its policy of Russification of the Jews (see Russia) it made Vilna a center of its activities. Max Lilienthal was sent there in 1842 to encourage the establishment of modern schools, and in 1847 a government-sponsored rabbinical seminary was established. Polish language and culture, which had influenced the maskilim and men of letters at the beginning of the 19th century, was now superseded by Russian. The interwar period from 1922 to 1939 was a time of fruitful and manifold social and cultural activities for Vilna Jewry, although Vilna, now part of Poland, was affected economically by the severance of its former ties with Russia and Lithuania. This period saw the establishment of a network of elementary and secondary schools in which Hebrew was either the language of instruction or the principal language, and of Hebrew and Yiddish teachers' seminaries and trade schools.