Commentators:R. Shemuel b. Chofni Gaon/0

R. Shemuel b. Chofni Gaon – Intellectual Profile

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R. Shemuel b. Chofni Gaon

Name	R. Shemuel b. Chofni Gaon ר' שמואל בן חפני גאון (הכהן), רשבח"ג
Dates	9??-1013
Location	Baghdad
Works	Commentary and translation on Torah, Halakhic works
Exegetical Characteristics	Rationalist
Influenced by	R. Saadia
Impacted on

Background

Life

• Name – R. Samuel b. Ḥofni Gaon
  • Hebrew name – ר' שמואל בן חפני גאון
• Dates – 930/940s¹ - 1013²
• Location – Baghdad³
• Education – He was educated in the yeshiva of Sura which he would later head.⁴
• Occupation – Av Beit Din and Gaon of Yeshivat Sura
• Family – Hofni, Shmuel's father, was the Av Beit Din of the Yeshiva of Sura, which was headed by the Gaon, Shemuel's uncle, Nehemiah. Shmuel had (at least) one son named Israel and two daughters,⁵ one of whom was married to R. Hai Gaon, son of R. Sherira Gaon.⁶
• Contemporaries – R. Sherira ben Hananiah
• Time period – Some sources indicate that R. Shemuel was among the last Geonim (head of the Yeshiva) of Sura. However, it is known that after his death, the Yeshiva was headed by Dosa son of R. Saadia Gaon, and after that, by R. Shmuel ben Hofni's son Israel.⁷
• World outlook – R. Shemuel ben Hofni was likely the most prolific author of the Geonim, having written at least 60 books, and he was also among their most intellectually daring. In several passages, he demonstrates that he is aware of this individualistic worldview and willingness to deviate from the accepted opinions of his predecessors, although he is also willing to admit when he makes a mistake.⁸

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Bereshit (2nd half), Bemidbar, Devarim
• Rabbinics:
  
  • Talmudic novellae – Commentaries on Bavli Shabbat, Yevamot, Ketubot, and Introduction to the Study of Mishnah and Talmud
  • Halakhic codes – many treatises on various subjects
  • Responsa – several found in collections of Geonic responsa

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical – 
• Genre – 
• Structure – 
• Language – Hebrew
• Peshat and derash – 

Methods

• The verses are examined for any textual anomalies, and these anomalies are explained from a rationalist point of view in keeping with the simple meaning of the text.

Themes

Textual Issues

• Manuscripts – 
• Printings – 
• Textual layers – 

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – 
• Teachers – 
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

• R. Yonah in Janah
• Ibn Ezra

¹ See Skalre, Samuel ben Hofni Gaon: His Life and Works. Brill: 1996, pp. 3-5

² Mann, J. "The Last Geonim of Sura." Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 11, 1920, pp. 409-422.

³ Although head of the Yeshiva of Sura was originally located elsewhere, by the time of R. Saadia Gaon's tenure the yeshiva had moved to Baghdad. See for example, the letter written by R. Saadia writing "as the head of the Yeshiva of Mehasia located in Baghdad," in Lewin, Ginzey Qedem, 2:33–35. Regarding the locations of the Geonic yeshivas, see Brody, The geonim of Babylonia and the shaping of medieval Jewish culture. Yale University Press, 1998, pp. 35-38

⁴ See the letter published in Lewin's edition of Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon, pp. 133-134, where the young Shemuel is mentioned as a young member of the Sura Academy.

⁵ Sklare, pp. 7-11

⁶ See the letter published in Mann, Texts and Studies Vol. 1, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1931, p. 158, where R. Shmuel ben Hofni refers to the peace made between himself and R. Sherira through the marriage of their children: נעשה שלום בינינו וביניו גם עם גאון חתננו יאמצהו מגננו והיינו שלשתנו כאחד ונתחנו בנו בנו ונשא בתנו. This is also attested to in many other sources, such as R. Avraham b. Daud's Sefer ha-Kabbalah

⁷ Mann, J. "The Last Geonim of Sura." Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 11, 1920, pp. 409-422.

⁸ Skalre, pp. 38-42