Zevachim and Menachos in One Night

It is told that on Simchas Torah, when Eliyahu was eleven years old, he suddenly remembered a vow he had made to finish tractates Zevachim and Menachos by the end of the Yom Tov, and he had not even begun. He sat down and learned both tractates all night long.

Rav Michel of Datneve was there and fell asleep, but he woke around midnight to find the young Eliyahu still going strong, up to page 50 of Zevachim. Astonished, he asked how he could learn fifty pages of Gemara in just two hours. He tested him on several difficult passages and found that the boy’s understanding was complete and thorough.

When Rav Michel returned at dawn, he found that Eliyahu had begun Menachos and finished almost half of it. He tested him again and blessed him. The Gaon finished both tractates before Shacharis.