Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World

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Sherira Gaon
(495 words)

Sherira Gaon (ca.906–1006) was a jurist descended from an exilarchic family who served as gaon of the Pumbedita yeshiva from 968 to 1004. Directly prior to his appointment, the Pumbedita academy had been substantially weakened by a schism that led to the short-lived founding of a breakaway faction by Nehemiah bar Kohen Ṣedeq. In addition, throughout this period, the Babylonian academies (see Yeshivot in Babylonia/Iraq) were losing much of their influence in the Jewish communities to the west thanks to the rise of houses of study (Heb. batte midrash) there.

With the flow of financial …

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Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, “Sherira Gaon”, in: Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_SIM_0020120>
First published online: 2010



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