Samuel ben Hofni (
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 ...
: שמואל בן חפני, or full name: רב שמואל בן חפני גאון
bbreviation: רשב"חor שמואל בן חפני הכהן; also: Samuel b. Hofni or Samuel ha-Kohen ben Hofni; died 1034). He was the
Gaon of Sura from 998 to 1012.
Biography
His father was a Talmudic scholar and chief judge ("
ab bet 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, ...
," probably of
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
), one of whose responsa are extant, and on whose death Samuel wrote an elegy. Samuel was the father-in-law of
Hai ben Sherira Gaon
Hai ben Sherira (Hebrew: האי/י בר שרירא) better known as Hai Gaon (Hebrew: האי/י גאון, חאיי גאון), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the ...
, who is authority for the statement that Samuel, like many of his contemporaries, zealously pursued the study of non-Jewish literature. Beyond these few data, nothing is known of the events of Samuel's life. He served as the Gaon of Sura from 998 to 1012, he was later succeeded by
Dosa ben Saadia
Dosa ben Saadia (Hebrew: דּוֹסָא בֶּן סַעֲדְיָה, ''Dōsā Ben Saʿăḏyāh'') (Arabic: دوسة بن سعيد الفيومي, ''Dawsa bin Saʻīd al-Fayyūmi'': - 1018) was a Talmudic scholar and philosopher who was the Gaon ...
. His son
Israel ha-Kohen ben Samuel was the last Sura Gaon.
His ''responsa''
Although, as a rule, geonic literature consists mainly of
responsa
''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
, Samuel ben Ḥofni composed but few of these. This was because the
Academy of Sura
Sura Academy (Hebrew: ישיבת סורא) was a Jewish yeshiva located in Sura, Babylonia. With Pumbedita Academy, it was one of the two major Jewish academies from the year 225 CE at the beginning of the era of the Amora sages until 1033 CE at ...
had for a century occupied a less prominent position than that of
Pumbedita
Pumbedita (sometimes Pumbeditha, Pumpedita, or Pumbedisa; arc, פוּמְבְּדִיתָא ''Pūmbəḏīṯāʾ'', "The Mouth of the River,") was an ancient city located near the modern-day city of Fallujah, Iraq. It is known for having hosted t ...
, and that, especially in the time of
Hai ben Sherira
Hai ben Sherira (Hebrew: האי/י בר שרירא) better known as Hai Gaon (Hebrew: האי/י גאון, חאיי גאון), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the ...
, information was preferably sought at the latter institution.
A
Cairo genizah fragment of the Taylor-Schechter collection, containing a letter to
Shemariah ben Elhanan Shemariah ben Elhanan was head of the yeshivah of Cairo, Egypt, about the end of the 10th century. Abraham ibn Daud''Sefer ha-Ḳabbalah,'' in A. Neubauer, ''M. J. C.'' i. 68 relates that Ibn Rumais (or Ibn Demahin), an Arab admiral, had captured f ...
written, according to Schechter's opinion, by Samuel ben Ḥofni, and another letter of Samuel's to
Kairwan, show the great efforts which at this time the last representative of the Babylonian schools had to make to maintain the ancient seats of learning in
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
. Samuel's responsa, written in
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 ...
,
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, 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 ...
(those written in Arabic were translated into Hebrew), discuss
tefillin
Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...
,
tzitzit
''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual Fringe (trim), fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and toda ...
,
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
and holidays, forbidden and permitted food (
kashrut
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
), women, priests, servants, property rights, and other questions of civil law. They consist chiefly of explanations of the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
and include some very short halakhic decisions, from which fact it is surmised that they are taken from his Talmud treatise ''Sha'arei Berakhot''. With the intellectual independence peculiar to him, he occasionally declares a Talmudic law to be without
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
foundation, and when an explanation in the Talmud seems inadequate, he adds one of his own which is satisfactory.
Samuel wrote ''Madkhal ila 'al-Talmud'' (Arabic: مدخل الى التلمود, Hebrew title, "Mevo haTalmud"), an Arabic introduction to the Talmud which is known only through citations from it made by
Abu al-Walid
Abu al-Walid (, full name : Abdulaziz bin Omar Al-Ghamidi transliterated also known as Abu al-Waleed and also called Abu al-Walid al-Ghamdi or simply Abu Walid; 1967 – 16 April 2004) was a Saudi Arabian of the Ghamd tribe who fought as a "muj ...
,
Joseph ibn 'Aḳnin
Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin ( ar, يوسف ابن عقنين, he, יוסף בן יהודה אבן עקנין; 1150 – c. 1220) was a Sephardic Jewish writer of numerous treatises, mostly on the ''Mishnah'' and the Talmud. He was born in Barcelon ...
, and
Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto ( he, , translit=Avraham ben Shmuel Zacut, pt, Abraão ben Samuel Zacuto; 12 August 1452 – ) was a Castilian astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian who served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal.
...
. His treatise concerning the hermeneutic rules in the Talmud is known only by name. Some of Samuel ben Ḥofni's teachings, not found in any other sources, have been conveyed in
Nathan ben Abraham's
Judeo-Arabic
Judeo-Arabic dialects (, ; ; ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encomp ...
Mishnah commentary, supplemented by an anonymous copyist in the 12th-century. The entire work has been translated into Hebrew by Rabbi
Yosef Qafih.
Treatises
Samuel's systematic treatises on many portions of the Talmudic law surpassed in number those of his predecessors. They were composed in Arabic, although some bore corresponding familiar Hebrew titles. They are:
* ''Aḥkām Shar‘ al-Ẓiẓit,'' ten chapters, on rules concerning
tzitzit
''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual Fringe (trim), fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and toda ...
* ''Lawāzim al-Aḥkām,'' known from a citation, from the catalogue of a book-dealer of the twelfth century (this catalogue was found among the
genizah
A genizah (; , also ''geniza''; plural: ''genizot'' 'h''or ''genizahs'') is a storage area in a Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper ceme ...
fragments of
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 ...
, and was published by E. N. Adler and I. Broydé, and from fragments recently (1906) discovered and published by Schechter
* ''Al-Bulūgh wa'l-Idrāk,'' in six chapters, on the attainment of one's majority (
bar mitzvah)
* ''Fī al-Ṭalāq'' (appears in the above-mentioned catalogue under the title ''Kitāb al-Ṭalāq''), on divorce
* ''Naskh al-Shar‘ wa-Uṣūl al-Dīn wa-Furū‘ihā'' (i.e., "Abrogation of the Law and the Foundations of Religion and Its Branches"), cited by
Judah ibn Balaam Judah ibn Balaam (or Bal'am) (Hebrew: יהודה בן שמואל אבן בלעם Yehuda ben Shmuel ibn Balaam; Arabic: Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Balaam) was an Andalusian rabbi of the eleventh century (Toledo, 1000 - Seville, 1070).
Biographical inf ...
and
Moses ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ ("writer of penitential prayers") ( ar, أَبُو هَارُون مُوسَى بِن يَعْقُوب اِبْن عَزْرَا, ''Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'qub ibn 'Azra'', he, מֹשֶׁה ב ...
* ''Fī al-Nafaqāt,'' concerning taxes
* ''Al-Shuf‘a,'' twenty chapters, concerning boundary disputes
* ''al-Risālah al-Shakīrīyah'' (= Hebrew, שכירות, mentioned by
Moses ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ ("writer of penitential prayers") ( ar, أَبُو هَارُون مُوسَى بِن يَعْقُوب اِبْن عَزْرَا, ''Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'qub ibn 'Azra'', he, מֹשֶׁה ב ...
), probably concerning the hiring of persons
* ''Al-Sharā’i‘,'' concerning commandments; divided into "gates" or chapters ("she‘arim") with separate titles, e.g., ''Sha‘arei Sheḥiṭut''; ''Sha‘ar shel Bediḳut haBasar min ha-Ḥelev''; ''Sha‘arei Berakhot.'' The last-mentioned part has been edited in Hebrew by I. H. Weiss, and partially translated into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
.
* ''Shurūṭ,'' concerning contracts
* ''Ha-Mattanah,'' concerning gifts
* ''Ha-Shuttafut,'' concerning partnership
The above-mentioned catalogue contains in addition the following titles of works by Samuel on the same subjects of Talmudic law:
* ''Kitāb Aḥkām al-Piqqadon,'' concerning deposits
* ''Kitāb al-Mujāwara,'' concerning neighborhood
* ''Kitāb al-Bay‘," concerning sales
The catalogue ascribes to Samuel ben Ḥofni likewise a commentary on the tractate
Yebamot. Moreover, Schechter's genizah fragments contain the beginning of an Arabic commentary by Samuel on a Hebrew "reshut" 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''; ...
's.
As Bible Exegete
The most important work of Samuel, however, was in
Bible exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...
. As early a writer as
Jonah ibn Janah
Jonah ibn Janah or ibn Janach, born Abu al-Walīd Marwān ibn Janāḥ ( ar, أبو الوليد مروان بن جناح, or Marwan ibn Ganaḥ Hebrew: ), (), was a Jewish rabbi, physician and Hebrew grammarian active in Al-Andalus, or Islamic ...
called him a leading advocate of simple, temperate explanation ("
peshaṭ
''Peshat'' (also ''P'shat'', ) is one of the two classic methods of Jewish biblical exegesis, the other being Derash. While ''Peshat'' is commonly defined as referring to the surface or literal (direct) meaning of a text,Goldin, S. (2007). Unloc ...
"), and
Abraham ibn Ezra, although finding fault with his verbosity, placed him in the front rank of Bible commentators of the
geonic period. In modern times his significance as a Bible exegete has been given proper appreciation through Harkavy's studies of the manuscripts in the
St. Petersburg Library. Fragments of Samuel's commentary on the Pentateuch were preserved only in the Leningrad Ms. (St. Petersburg Ms.) and in Mss. from the
Cairo Geniza, and which were collected, rendered into a Hebrew translation and published in 1979 by Aaron Greenbaum.
Translations of the Bible
Samuel ben Ḥofni wrote, besides, an Arabic translation of the
Pentateuch
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...
with a commentary, a commentary on some of the
Prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
s, and perhaps a commentary on
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...
. M. I. Israelsohn has published a portion of Samuel's Pentateuch translation (Gen. xli.-l.) with commentary. The deficiencies in these edited fragments might be supplied by the citations in
Abraham Maimonides Abraham Maimonides (אברהם בן רמב"ם; also known as Rabbeinu Avraham ben ha-Rambam, and Avraham Maimuni) (1186 – December 7, 1237) was the son of Maimonides who succeeded his father as Nagid of the Egyptian Jewish community.
Biograph ...
' commentary on
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
and
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
. The German translation of a specimen of these fragments is given in Winter and Wünsche.
The fragments show that Samuel's translation of the Pentateuch was dependent upon, though it was more literal than, that 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''; ...
, which had been written almost one hundred years earlier. In contrast to Saadia, Samuel gives Hebrew proper names in their original form. Grammatical notes occupy a remarkably small space in his verbose commentary, and his grammatical point of view was that taken by scholars before the time of
Ḥayyuj. On the other hand, he gives careful consideration to the chronology of Bible accounts, and in explaining a word he gives all its various meanings besides references to its occurrence elsewhere. His source is the
midrashic and
Talmudic literature, though he specifically mentions only
Seder Olam Rabbah
''Seder Olam Rabbah'' ( he, סדר עולם רבה, "The Great Order of the World") is a 2nd-century CE Hebrew language chronology detailing the dates of biblical events from creation to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. It adds no storie ...
and
Targum Onkelos.
Polemical Writings
Samuel ben Ḥofni is mentioned in connection with
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''; ...
and
Muḳammaṣ as a polemical writer. An anti-
Karaite work entitled ''Arayot,'' on the degrees of relationship, is ascribed to him, but whether correctly or incorrectly is not certain.
Kabalists have assigned to him a ''Sefer ha-Yashar'', and a request directed to Saadia for his decision on oaths.
Theological views
Samuel ben Ḥofni is justly called a rationalist. In religious matters he considered reason higher than tradition. Holding to a belief in the creation of the world out of nothing, he rejected
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
and everything that reason denies. He deliberately placed himself in opposition to Saadia, who had held fast to the belief that the
witch of En-dor
The Witch of Endor ( he, ''baʿălaṯ-ʾōḇ bəʿĒyn Dōr'', "she who owns the ''ʾōḇ'' of Endor") is a woman who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was consulted by Saul to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Saul wished to receive a ...
had brought
Samuel
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
to life again, that the serpent had spoken to
Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
, and the ass to
Balaam
Balaam (; , Standard ''Bīlʿam'' Tiberian ''Bīlʿām'') is a diviner in the Torah (Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beo ...
, even though he felt himself compelled to explain the wonders by supplying the intermediary agency of
angels. Samuel denied these and similar miracles, and, with an irony reminiscent of
Ḥiwi al-Balkhi
Ḥiwi al-Balkhi (9th century) ( he, חיוי אל-בלכי, also Hiwwi or Chivi) was an exegete and Biblical critic of the last quarter of the ninth century born in Balkh, Khorasan (modern Afghanistan). It is not entirely clear whether Hiwi was ...
, he put the question, "Why, if they were able to do so at one time, do serpents not speak at present?"
According to his conception, God changes the natural order of things only when He wishes to verify before all people the words of a prophet. This view was opposed by his son-in-law
Hai Gaon
Hai ben Sherira (Hebrew: האי/י בר שרירא) better known as Hai Gaon (Hebrew: האי/י גאון, חאיי גאון), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the ...
. That in later times he was not termed a heretic, although disparaging criticism was not lacking, was due to his position as
gaon.
[see Weiss, l.c. iv. 198; Menachem Meiri, ''Bet ha-Beḥirah,'' in Adolf Neubauer, ''M. J. C.'' ii. 225]
Notes
External links
*In addition to the references given above see
**
Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname:
* (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist
* Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer
* Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...
, Ritus, p. 191;
**G. Margoliouth, in J. Q. R. xiv. 311.
Rav Shmuel ben Hofni HaKohen Gaon at kehuna.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel Ben Hofni
1034 deaths
Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature
Geonim
11th-century Abbasid rabbis
Rabbis of Academy of Sura
Year of birth unknown