Samuel ben Eli Ibn al-Dastūr

Samuel ben Eli Ibn al-Dastūr served as gaon of the Baghdadi academy from 1164 until his death. Samuel was involved in communal activities and was well known for his appointment of judges in many Jewish communities. He engaged in a number of communal controversies, most prominently with the exilarch Samuel of Mosul (d. 1195) and Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), who was not shy in expressing his negative view of Samuel. Several of Samuel’s letters survive in the Cairo Geniza, as does his rebuttal of Maimonides’ position on the resurrection of the dead, although only in a Hebrew translation from the original Judeo-Arabic. This work displays Samuel’s knowledge of Islamic theology and his innovative biblical exegesis. Petaḥiah of Regensburg, who claimed to have visited Baghdad during Samuel’s tenure as the head of the academy, reported that Samuel’s daughter was knowledgeable in Bible and rabbinic literature, an unusual distinction for a woman of the period.