Rabbi Chaim Volozhin was the chief follower and disciple of the Vilna Gaon and founded a yeshiva in Volozhin - often referred to as the "Mother of the Yeshivas" - to which most Litvish ("Lithuanian") yeshivas can be traced. A large group of Mitnagdim and their families, numbering over 500, were inspired by the Vilna Gaon to settle in Palestine between 1809 and 1812. They are known as Perushim.