Joseph ben Rav Jacob HaKohen (

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 ...

: רבי יוסף בן רב יעקב הכהן) commonly known as bar Saṭya (Hebrew: בר סטיא; c. 902 - 969) was the Gaon of Sura from 930 to 936 and again from 942 to 948.

Biography

Joseph was born in

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

. His father

Jacob ben Natronai Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Jacob in Islam, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel (name), Israel, is regarded as a Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religi ...

was the Gaon of Sura from 911 to 924, and his mother descended from the

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 ...

s. Much of his early life is unknown, although in 930, the Exilarch David ben Zakkay appointed Rabbi Joseph as the Sura Gaon in retaliation to the previous Gaon,

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''; ...

, with whom David got into a heated dispute, regarding Saadia's support for the succession of David's brother as Exilarch. Because Joseph became Gaon under such political tension, many regarded him as a pawn of the Exilarch, unfit to serve as the Sura Gaon. The

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 ...

describes Joseph stating that: "''he was not very eloquent and was a trifling scholar compared to R. Saadia Gaon''”. After Saadia and David reconciled, Joseph was promptly replaced by Saadia. Although he continued to receive a pension from the academy, and after Saadia's death in 942, he once again served as the Sura Gaon until 948, after which he moved to

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

, where he died around 960 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph ben Jacob Geonim Rabbis of Academy of Sura 10th-century rabbis 900s births 969 deaths Year of birth uncertain