Jacob ben Nissim ibn Shahin was a Jewish philosopher and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who lived at

Kairouan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

in the 10th century; he was a younger contemporary of

Saadia Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

. At Jacob's request

Sherira Gaon Sherira bar Hanina (Hebrew: שרירא בר חנינא) more commonly known as Sherira Gaon (Hebrew: שרירא גאון; c. 906-c. 1006) was the gaon of the Academy of Pumbeditha. He was one of the most prominent Geonim of his period, and the ...

wrote a treatise entitled ''Iggeret,'' on the redaction of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

. Jacob is credited with the authorship of an

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

commentary on the '' Sefer Yeẓirah'' (translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Moses ben Joseph Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important Prop ...

). He asserts in the introduction that Saadia, while living in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, used to address very insignificant questions to Isaac ben Solomon of Kairouan, and that, on receiving Saadia's commentary, he found that the text had not been understood by the commentator. Jacob therefore decided to write another commentary. In the same introduction Jacob speaks of

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one ...

, repeating the story that that celebrated physician was a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

named "Gamaliel." The Hebrew translation of Jacob's commentary is still extant in manuscript;Munich MSS., No. 92, 20; De Rossi MSS., No. 769 excerpts from it have been given by M. H. Landauer and Dukes. Jacob ben Nissim wrote a work on Indian mathematics under the title ''Ḥisab al-Ghubar'' ( he, האבק חשבון). His son and student, Nissim (referred to in later Rabbinic literature as Rabbeinu Nissim, or in Hebrew רבנו ניסים), would later become the head of Yeshiva at

References

It has the following bibliography: * M. H. Landauer, in Orient, vii. 121; *

Julius Fürst Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805, Żerków, South Prussia – 9 February 1873, Leipzig), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German orientalist and the son of noted maggid, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished scho ...

, ib. vi. 562; *Dukes, Ḳonṭres ha-Masoret; *

Salomon Munk Salomon Munk (14 May 1803 – 5 February 1867) was a German-born Jewish-French Orientalist. Biography Munk was born in Gross Glogau in the Kingdom of Prussia. He received his first instruction in Hebrew from his father, an official of the J ...

, Notice sur Aboulwalid, p. 47; * Moritz Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1243; *idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 396; *idem, Die Arabische Literatur der Juden, § 58.K {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Nissim, Jacob 10th-century philosophers 10th-century people of Ifriqiya 10th-century rabbis Jews of Ifriqiya People from Kairouan