Sar Shalom ben Abraham ( Hebrew: שר שלום בן אברהם) was the head of the remnant of the

Palestinian Gaonate The Land of Israel Gaonate (Hebrew: ישיבת ארץ ישראל‎, romanized: ''Yeshivat Eretz Israel'') was the chief talmudical academy and central legalistic body of the Jewish community in Palestine during the middle of the ninth century, o ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

around the end of the 12th century.

Details

Sar Shalom was the son of Abraham ben Mazhir, the Gaon in Damascus. Sar Shalom first appears in a poem of

Isaac Ibn Ezra Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

( he) from 1142 dedicated to Sar Shalom's father that mentions his four children, including Sar Shalom.The poem is availabl
here
his name is mentioned on line six When

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli'';‎ Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, an ...

visited Damascus in around 1168 he found Sar Shalom as

Av Beit 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, ...

and his brother Ezra as Gaon. A letter from the Iraqi Gaon

Samuel ben Ali Samuel ben Ali (also Samuel ben Ali ibn al-Dastur; died 1194) was the most noteworthy of the twelfth-century Babylonian scholars and the only one of his era whose written works have survived in any significant number. Biography Samuel served a ...

from 1191 mentions Sar Shalom as Av Beit Din. Scholars debate how to interpret the letter. Assaf, the original publisher, and Fleischer both understood the letter as indicating that Sar Shalom was dead. Mann disagreed and read the letter as saying Sar Shalom was alive as Av Beit Din under a nephew of his, a son of his brother Ezra. Sar Shalom is explicitly mentioned as Gaon in a copy of a commentary of the Karaite scholar Yefet ben Eli. A note on the manuscript states that the commentary was copied for the library of Sar Shalom. It is noteworthy that the Rabbinate Sar Shalom was interested in a copy of a commentary written by a Karaite. Sar Shalom should not be confused with his contemporary in Fustat, the Gaon Sar Shalom ben Moses.

Succession

The question of who succeeded Sar Shalom as Gaon is dependent on the scholarly debate quoted above. According to Assaf and Fleischer the Damascene Yeshiva in 1191 was headed by Sar Shalom's brother Mazhir, who for whatever reason did not assume the title Gaon and remained as "The Third" (the level below Av Beit Din in the Palestinian Yeshiva). According to Mann's approach, the above letter does not give any direct information about who reigned after Sar Shalom. Instead, the only available evidence is from

Judah al-Harizi Yehuda Alharizi, also Judah ben Solomon Harizi or al-Harizi ( he, יהודה בן שלמה אלחריזי, ''Yehudah ben Shelomo al-Harizi'', ar, يحيا بن سليمان بن شاؤل أبو زكريا الحريزي اليهودي من أه� ...

that a man named Sadoq was dismissed from the post of Gaon and later regained his position after 1215.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * Geonim 12th-century rabbis 12th-century Syrian people Syrian Jews People from Damascus {{Geonim