In their introduction to their father's commentary on Shulchan Aruch, the children of the Vilna Gaon wrote about Rivlin:He merited to hear teachings from the holy, pure mouth, and the light of the Torah and its fear shone upon him.
[8]According to a family tradition, influenced by the Vilna Gaon, from the year 1780 and onwards, there was a great sense of imminent redemption and return to the land of Israel.
[9] This movement received financial support from Rivlin, who (according to family tradition), along with his partner, Zeitlin, earned a large sum of money at that time through the sale of a forest to the Russian government.
[10] On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, 1781, after reading the haftara from Jeremiah (chapter 31), Rivlin gave a sermon entitled, "I awakened in the north and came from the south."
In this sermon, he outlined several strategic goals to advance the redemption, including purchasing land in Israel and settling the Old City of Jerusalem.
Rivlin also planned to emigrate to Israel, but news of plagues sweeping the Holy Land and difficulty in transferring money caused him to remain in Shklow.