Commentators:R. Chananel b. Chushiel/0/en

R. Chananel b. Chushiel

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R. Chananel

Name	R. Chananel b. Chushiel רבנו חננאל בן חושיאל, ר"ח
Dates	c. 965 – 1055
Location	Kairouan
Works	Commentaries on Talmud and Talmud
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	His father R. Chushiel, R. Hai Gaon, R. Saadia Gaon
Impacted on	R. Nissim b. Yaakov, Rif, Rambam

Background

Life

• Name – Ḥananel (or "Chananel"); some historians believe that his given name was Elhanan, but at some point later in his life he became referred to by the name Ḥananel.¹
  • Hebrew name – חננאל בן חושיאל (or, possibly, אלחנן בן חושיאל) 
• Dates – c. 970-1057²
• Location – Kairouan (or "Qayrawan"), in modern-day Tunisia. Most historians believe that R. Hananel was born in Italy, likely Bari, and emigrated to Kairouan as an adult.³
• Occupation – Rabbinical judge and head of the local house of study⁴
• Family – R. Ḥananel's father, R. Ḥushiel b. Elhanan, was an Italian who became the rabbinic leader of Kairouan. A tradition states that R. Ḥananel had nine daughters but no sons.⁵
• Education – Some have thought that R. Ḥananel studied in the Geonic Yeshivot of Babylonia, but this is likely not the case.⁶
• Teachers – Throughout his commentary, R. Ḥananel constantly refers to "his teachers," who remain unnamed. It is likely that R. Ḥananel learned most of his Torah from his father, R. Ḥushiel b. Elhanan, who was the rabbinic leader of Kairouan.⁷
• Contemporaries – R. Hai Gaon,⁸ R. Nissim b. Yaakov, Shmuel haNagid
• Students – R. Nissim b. Yaakov
• Time period – R. Ḥananel is considered to be among the transitional figures between the era of the "Geonim" and the "Rishonim."⁹ 
• World outlook – R. Ḥananel refers to his act of writing down his explanations of the Gemara as מלאכת שמים, heavenly work.¹⁰ 

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Many of the Spanish commentators on the bible quote citations from R. Hananel's commentary on the Torah, though the complete work is lost.¹¹
• Rabbinics – 
  • Talmudic novellae – 
  • Halakhic codes – 
  • Responses to the works of others – 
  • Responsa – 
• Jewish thought – 
• Misattributed works – Commentary on Horayot, Zevahim; Sefer Miktzo'ot

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

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

Methods

• – 

Themes

• – 

Textual Issues

• Manuscripts – 
• Printings – 
• Textual layers – 

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – 
• Teachers – 
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

• –

Supercommentaries

• –

¹

This is based upon the fact that a letter of R. Hushiel b. Elhanan, the father of R. Hananel, refers to his son "Elhanan," who also appears in documentary evidence as a judge in Kairouan at the exact same time period as R. Hananel, and there is no evidence that R. Hushiel had two sons who were both rabbinic scholars. Menahem Ben-Sasson, The Emergence of the Local Jewish Community in the Muslim World: Qayrawan, 800-1057 [Hebrew, צמיחת הקהילה היהודית בארצות האסלאם] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1996), p. 225-229

² Paris manuscript Mosseri II 133, quoted in Jacob Mann, Texts and Studies (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1931), p. 246.

³ Rashbam to Bava Batra 86b refers to R. Hananel as איש רומי, "a man from Rome," (which is a general reference to Italian lands), and if R. Hananel is to be identified as the same "Elhanan" referred to in a letter by R. Hushiel b. Elhanan to R. Shmaryah of Egypt, then direct evidence exists for R. Hananel being born in Italy. This letter was published by Solomon Schechter, "Geniza Specimens. A Letter of Chushiel" The Jewish Quarterly Review, 1899:11, 643–650

⁴ Multiple documents attesting to these roles have been found in the Cairo Genizah. See Menachem Ben-Sasson, p. 225ff

⁵ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah (G. Cohen ed., Hebrew section p. 58)

⁶ R. Chaim Yosef David Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim entry on "Rabbeinu Hananel" quotes from the responsa of Maharam "ha-ketzarot" no. 91 who surmises that R. Hananel studies with R. Hai Gaon because the latter is quoted in the commentary. R. Azulai notes that this is not necessarily the case, and modern scholars have pointed out that whenever he quotes teachings from the Geonim, R. Hananel always cites what he "saw," indicating that his knowledge of Geonic teachings are sourced in written texts rather than his personal education. This is evident from a fragment of his commentary to Bava Batra 63a which survives as quoted by R. Zechariah Agamati's Sefer ha-Ner: כענין הזה פירוש מקצת הגאונים ומפני שהיא מלאכת שמים כתבנו [מה] שקיבלנו מרבותינו מפה לאוזן וכתבנו פירוש הגאונים שראינו

⁷ Sefer Tashbetz Part 1 72. The Sefer ha-'Arukh (page 166) refers to R Hananel on Bava Batra 40b who says ואמר דפרש לה אביו חושיאל ז”ל הכי להאי לישנא. Another instance of an author associating R. Hananel with his father's teaching is in Meiri Sanhedrin 27b.

⁸ In his commentary to Shabbat 115b, R. Hananel quotes an explanation from "Rabbeinu Hai the Gaon, light of Israel, may he live and prosper forever," indicating that he must have been alive at the time.

⁹ He is recognized as such by R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah, R. Menachem Meiri in his introduction to Avot, and many others. He is often referred to as "Rabbi Hananel Gaon," or recognized as belonging both to the era of the Geonim and the Rishonim. For example, Rashba (She'eilot u-Teshuvot 4:118) writes כי רבינו חננאל ז”ל שהיה מן הגאונים ובקי בדברי הגאונים ז”ל שקדמוהו, and similarly after naming R. Hananel as one of the first three "Rabbanim" (in contrast with the Geonim), Meiri writes "ונשוב לדברינו והוא מהזמן הנז׳ והנה ר״ל מעת גאונות ר׳ חננאל", referring to R. Hananel as a Gaon.

¹⁰ R. Hananel's commentary to Shabbos 138b. This phrase appears in the Talmud Bavli (e.g. Eruvin 13a, Sukkah 26a) but may be a play on words from the verse in Yirmiyahu 44:19. Rambam, in his introduction to his Mishnah Torah, similarly writes that all writers who composed works to extract halakha from the Talmud are engaged in divine work: ועוד חיברו הלכות פסוקות בענין האסור והמותר והחייב והפטור בדברים שהשעה צריכה להן, כדי שיהיו קרובין למדע מי שאינו יכול לירד לעומקו של תלמוד. וזו היא מלאכת י״י שעשו בה כל גאוני ישראל מיום שחובר התלמוד ועד זמן זה

¹¹ Some have questioned whether the citations attributed to him are truly products of R. Hananel, because no contemporary source makes mention of R. Hananel having written a commentary on the Torah. See