Sherira Ga’on

Sherira ben Ḥanina, born into a family of exilarchs, led the Pumbedita academy, then located in Baghdad, from 968 to 1004. Sherira’s appointment to a position of leadership within the Pumbedita academy was originally a matter of some controversy and was opposed by the previous gaon, Neḥemiah bar Kohen Tsedek (d. 968). As gaon, Sherira maintained communications with (and raised funds from) Jewish communities in North Africa and elsewhere. He is best known for a letter he wrote to Jacob ben Nissim Ibn Shāhīn and the community of Qayrawān, Tunisia, telling the history of the transmission of rabbinic learning. During his time as gaon, he became one of the most prolific authors of responsa in the entire geonic period, writing hundreds of them. He also composed talmudic commentaries, not all of which survive in full.