Daniel ben Azariah (

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 ...

: דניאל בן עזריה, died August 1062) was the gaon of the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

from 1051 till 1062. Descended from a Babylonian

exilarch The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Persian 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 ...

family, he was a scion of the House of David and was elected to head the Palestinian Academy in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

.''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', 1972. Vol. 5, pg. 1291. The

Ben Ezra Synagogue The Ben Ezra Synagogue ( he, בית כנסת בן עזרא; ar, معبد بن عزرا), sometimes referred to as the El-Geniza Synagogue () or the Synagogue of the Levantines (al-Shamiyin), is situated in the Fustat part of Old Cairo, Egypt. A ...

of the

Palestinian Jews Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians were the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine region (known in Hebrew as ''Eretz Yisrael'', ) prior to the establishment of the State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِس� ...

Fostat Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by t ...

was named in his honour: "Synagogue of our Lord Daniel, the Light of Israel, the Great Prince and Head of the Academy of the Majesty of Jacob." His nomination to the gaonate was not without controversy as it prevailed over the selection of one of the sons of an earlier gaon, Solomon ben Joseph ha-Cohen who had held office from for six months in 1025. In 1062 Daniel died after a long and serious illness which he himself is said to have seen as a punishment for his ill treatment of his predecessor's family.Jewish Encyclopedia: Gaon
/ref> His son, David ben Daniel, was too young to assume his father's position and Elijah, son of Solomon ben Joseph and former ''

av beth din The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...

'', became gaon until 1083. David ben Daniel was subsequently involved in a succession dispute regarding the gaonate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel ben Azariah 11th-century rabbis in Jerusalem Geonim