The Palestinian Gaonate was the chief talmudic academy in Syria Palaestina and the central legalistic body of the Palestinian Jewish community during the middle of the ninth century, or even earlier, until its demise in the 11th century. It competed with the

talmudic academies in Babylonia The Talmudic academies in Babylonia, also known as the Geonic academies, were the center for Jewish scholarship and the development of Halakha during the Geonic era (from c. 589 to 1038 CE; Hebrew dates: 4349 AM to 4798 AM) in what is called ...

(

Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-s ...

) to support the growing diasporic communities. The Egyptian and German Jews particularly regarded the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

geonim ''Geonim'' (; ; also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura Academy , Sura and Pumbedita Academy , Pumbedita, in t ...

as their spiritual leaders. The history of the Palestinian gaonate was revealed in documents discovered in the

Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled the Cairo Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Judaism, Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra ...

in 1896. Sparse information is available on the Geonim before the middle of the ninth century. The extant material consists essentially of a list in '' Seder Olam Zutta'' relating all the geonim to Mar Zutra.Elizur, S.
A contribution to the history of the gaonate in the eighth century : An elegy for the head of the academy in Palestine
', Siyyon 1999, vol. 64, no3, pp. 311-348, ote(s): XXI (39 p.) Historical Society of Israel, Jerusalem, ISRAEL (1935). In the middle of the ninth century, the leadership of the academy was transferred from

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. It was forced to move to

Tyre, Lebanon Tyre (; ; ; ; ) is a city in Lebanon, and one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa (cons ...

in 1071; authority was later transferred to

Fustat Fustat (), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, though it has been integrated into Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by the Rashidun Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Mus ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The Palestinian Academy had probably ceased to exist before the Christians conquered Palestine. The tradition of the Palestinian gaonate seems to have survived at

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, for

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

(c. 1170) says that the teachers of Damascus were considered as the "scholastic heads of the Land of Israel."Gaon
Jewish Encyclopedia.

The Palestinian Gaonate

Before the middle of the 9th century, information about the Geonim is listed in the ''Seder Olam Zutta'', which links all the geonim to Mar-Zutra III (and thereby to the

Davidic line The Davidic line refers to the descendants of David, who established the House of David ( ) in the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. In Judaism, the lineage is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible ...

). Fragments found in the Cairo Geniza contradict the list, claiming that a member of the priestly family headed the academy in Tiberias in the middle of the 8th century. Evidence of the academy in Palestine existing during the lifetime of

Hai ben Sherira Hai ben Sherira (), better known as Hai Gaon (), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038. He receive ...

, the last Babylonian gaon, is from a mention of Josiah Ḥaber being ordained at the "holy yeshiva of Palestine" in a document dated 1031. A postscript to a minor chronicle dating from 1046 says that Solomon ben Judah was then the "head of the Academy of Jerusalem". Three generations of the descendants of Solomon's predecessor, Solomon HaKohen ben Joseph, were heads of the rabbinic institute and bore the title of "gaon." Solomon HaKohen ben Joseph reigned for approximately six months during the year 1025. A work of one of the geonim of Palestine, the ''Megillat Abiathar'' of Abiathar ben Elijah ha-Cohen, which was discovered by Schechter in the Cairo Genizah and gives a very clear account of this episode in the history of the Jews of Palestine. During the 11th century, daily prayers were offered at the

Cave of the Patriarchs The Cave of the Patriarchs or Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews by its Biblical name Cave of Machpelah () and to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham (), is a series of caves situated south of Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the ...

for the welfare of the head of the Gaonate.

Hierarchy of the academy

The hierarchy of the academy was similar to that of Babylonia, although it had become a dynastic institution. The three main positions were controlled by three families, two of which claimed priestly descent. The

av beit din The ''av beit din'' (), abbreviated ( ''avad''), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period and served as an assistant to the nasi. The av beit din was known as the "Master of the Court;" he was consid ...

, the president of the court, ranked next to the gaon, and that another member of the college, called "the third" (''ha-shelishi''), held the third highest office. A letter in the "Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer" addresses Solomon ben Judah, "the first gaon of Palestine." This letter clearly shows the same close connection between the Jews of Egypt and those of Palestine as is indicated in the ''Megillat Abiathar''. Solomon ben Judah was succeeded at his death by

Daniel ben Azariah Daniel ben Azariah (Hebrew: דניאל בן עזריה, died August 1062) was the gaon of the Land of Israel from 1051 till 1062. Descended from a Babylonian exilarch family, he was a scion of the House of David and was elected to head the Pales ...

, a scion of the house of

exilarch The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing polit ...

s who had gone from Babylon to Palestine and had formerly done much injury to the brothers Joseph and Elijah HaKohen ben Solomon Gaon, was elected gaon, to the exclusion of Joseph, who remained ''av beit din''. Joseph died in 1053, and his brother Elijah became av beit din. Daniel ben Azariah died in 1062 after a long and serious illness, which he is said to have acknowledged as a punishment for the ill-treatment of his predecessors. Elijah now became gaon, filling the office down to 1084.

Exile and contested authority

After Jerusalem was taken by the

Seljuq Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of t ...

in 1071, the gaonate was removed from Jerusalem, apparently to Tyre. In 1082, Elijah Gaon of Palestine called a large convocation at Tyre. On this occasion, he designated his son Abiathar as his successor to the gaonate and his other son, Solomon, as av beit din. In 1084, Elijah held a council at

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. He died shortly thereafter and was buried in

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

, near the old tannaic tombs, a large concourse of people attending the burial. Shortly after Abiathar entered office, David ben Daniel, a descendant of the Babylonian exilarchs, was proclaimed exilarch in Egypt. Ben Daniel succeeded in having his authority recognized by the communities along the Palestinian and Phoenician coasts, Tyre alone retaining its independence for a time. But when this city again came under Egyptian rule in 1089, the Egyptian exilarch also subjected its community, forcing Abiathar to leave the academy. However, the academy resisted the exilarch, declaring his claims invalid and pointing out his godlessness and tyranny while in office. Fast-day services were held (1093), and the sway of the Egyptian exilarch was soon ended. The nagid Meborak, to whom ben Daniel owed his elevation, called a large assembly, which deposed him and reinstated Abiathar as gaon in

Iyar Iyar (Hebrew language, Hebrew: or , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''ʾĪyyar'' Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''ʾĪyyār''; from "Rosette (design), rosette; blossom") is the eighth month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei ...

of 1094. Abiathar wrote his ''Megillah'' in commemoration of this event. A few years later, at the time of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

, Abiathar sent a letter to the community of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. It is dated from the Tripolis of Phoenicia, where the academy may have been removed. Abiathar was succeeded by his brother Solomon. An undated anonymous letter dwells on the controversies and difficulties the academy had to contend with.

Transfer to Egypt

The next generation of Solomon HaKohen ben Joseph's descendants dwelt in Egypt. In 1031 Masliah ben Solomon ha-Cohen, a son of Solomon ben Elijah, addressed from the "gate of the Academy of Fustat" a letter to a man named Abraham in which he gives his whole genealogy, adding the full title of "gaon, rosh yeshivat geon Ya'qov," to the names of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The Academy of Palestine had probably ceased to exist before the Christians conquered Palestine, and its head, the gaon Maṣliaḥ, went to Fustat, where there was an academy that had seceded from the authority of the Palestine rabbinic Leadership Institute at the time of the Egyptian exilarch David ben Daniel. It is unknown what office Maṣliaḥ occupied at Fustat, although he retained his title of gaon. A daughter of Maṣliaḥ presented to the academy a book by Samuel ben Hofni, which she had inherited from her grandfather, the gaon Solomon ben Elijah. In 1112, the ''Mushtamil'', the philological work of the Karaite scholar Aaron of Jerusalem, was copied for Elijah, a son of the gaon Abiathar, "grandson of a gaon and great-grandson of a gaon." In 1111, the same Elijah purchased at Fustat

Chananel ben Chushiel Chananel ben Chushiel or Ḥananel ben Ḥushiel (), an 11th-century Kairouanan rabbi and Talmudist, was in close contact with the last Geonim. He is best known for his commentary on the Talmud. Chananel is often referred to as Rabbeinu Chananel � ...

's commentary on the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

, which subsequently fell into the hands of his cousin, the gaon Maṣliaḥ. It may be noted here that the geonic family of Palestine was of Aaronite origin and that Abiathar claimed

Ezra Ezra ( fl. fifth or fourth century BCE) is the main character of the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an important Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen'') in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, t ...

as his ancestor.

Notes

References