Commentators:R. Nissim Gaon/0

R. Nissim Gaon – Intellectual Profile

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R. Nissim Gaon

Name	R. Nissim Gaon ר' ניסים בן יעקב, רבינו ניסים גאון
Dates	990?-1062
Location	Kairouan
Works	Sefer Mafteach Manulei HaTalmud, Megillat Setarim, Talmud commentaries, Halakhic rulings, Chibbur Yafeh MeHaYeshuah
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	R. Yaakov b. Nissim, R. Chushiel b. Elchanan, R. Hai Gaon, R. Chananel b. Chushiel
Impacted on

Background

Life

• Name – R. Nissim b. Yaakov b. Nissim ibn Sahin 
  • Hebrew name – נסים בן יעקב בן נסים בן ישעיהו אבן שאהין
• Dates – c. 1000 - 1062¹
• Location – Kairouan (modern-day Tunisia)
• Beginning in about 1057, the city of Kairouan was attacked and ransacked repeatedly, and eventually the entire Jewish community was forced out of the city. For the last two to five years of his life, R. Nissim lived in Mahdia (on the Tunisian coast).²
• Occupation – R. Nissim is noted in multiple letters as a ריש בי מדרש, the head of a rabbinic study hall in Kairouan.³
• Family – His father, R. Yaakov b. Nissim, was an important rabbinic figure in Kairouan; R. Yaakov was responsible for the strong connection between Kairouan and the Yeshiva of R. Hai Gaon in Baghdad.⁴ Accroding to R. Avraham ibn Daud, the daughter of R. Nissim was married to Yehosef, the son of R. Shemuel HaNagid.
• Teachers – R. Hai Gaon,⁵ R. Chushiel b. Elchanan
• Contemporaries –  Rabbeinu Chananel, R. Shmuel ha-Nagid, Shelomo ibn Gabirol
• Time period – R. Avraham ibn Daud and R. Menachem Meiri refer to R. Nissim as one of three rabbis who make up the first generation of Rabbanim, the successors to the Geonim.⁶
• World outlook – In introductions to his works, R. Nissim expresses his desire to use his books in order to lift people's spirits⁷ and ease the Torah study of his students.⁸

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Although there is no record of any Torah commentary by R. Nissim, because many of his responsa deal with questions of biblical texts, he is cited by many classical Torah commentaries, such as R. David Kimhi⁹ and Ramban.¹⁰
• Rabbinics – 
  • Talmudic novellae – Sefer ha-Mafteach, a work cross-referencing the Talmud and documenting citations of other rabbinic statements in the Talmud was composed on several tractates (although the only complete sections that have survived are on Berakhot, Shabbat, and Eruvin). R. Nissim also composed a separate commentary on Eruvin, and possibly other tractates.¹¹  
  • Halakhic codes – An incomplete manuscript of R. Nissim's work (in Arabic) on the Laws of the Four Species has been published. External evidence indicates that R. Nissim wrote halakhic works on the laws of Purim, Shomrim, and perhaps other topics.¹²
  • Responsa – At least 200 responsa of R. Nissim were collected (in his lifetime) into a compendium with the title of Megillat Setarim.¹³ 
  • Rabbinic Legends – With the goal of comforting his son-in-law after the loss of a child, R. Nissim composed a book called Hibur Yafeh me-haYeshuah comprising of rabbinic tales from Talmud, Midrash, and other sources demonstrating God's providence in ensuring that the righteous are rewarded.¹⁴

Torah Commentary

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Sources

Significant Influences

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Occasional Usage

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Impact

Later exegetes

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¹ The year of R. Nissim's death is known due to the discovery of a letter in which a merchant writes of how he mourned R. Nissim's death soon after it occurred. Goitein, S.D. (1962) “New Sources Concerning the Nagids of Qayrawan and R. Nissim” [Hebrew]. Zion 27:1

² Goitein, S.D. (1962) “New Sources Concerning the Nagids of Qayrawan and R. Nissim” [Hebrew]. Zion 27:1

³ M. Ben-Sasson, צמיחת הקהילה היהודית בארצות האסלאם: קירואן 800-1057 (Israel: 1996)

⁴ On R. Yaakov, see M. Ben-Sasson, צמיחת הקהילה היהודית בארצות האסלאם: קירואן 800-1057 (Israel: 1996), p. 208-213

⁵ R. Chaim Yosef David Azulai (the "Chida") suggests (Shem haGedolim, Nissim Gaon) that R. Nissim did not study from R. Hai but learned 'from him' through written correspondence.

⁶ R. Avraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Kabbalah, R. Menachem Meiri, Commentary, Introduction to Avot

⁷ See his introduction to Sefer Yafeh mi-haYeshuah, quoting a story regarding R. Berokah and Eliyahu, saying יהיה חלקינו עם אותם העושים מעשים טובים, referring specifically to cheering up the depressed.

⁸ He writes in the introduction to his Sefer haMafteach, ולפי שראיתי הרבה מהתלמידים בזמננו זה לא עמדו על זה ויטרחו בבקשת אותה הראיה ולא ימצאו אותה ויתקשה עליהם ההלכה ותסתתם, ראיתי שאקבצם ואחברם יחד בספר. Such an attitude is a common theme in all R. Nissim's writings. Another example (Sefer haMafteach to Shabbat 132b): וזה שהוצרכתי לפרש דבר זה לפי שראיתיו מסובך אצל כל התלמידים וביארתיו כדי שיתגלה ויתברר

⁹ Bereshit 5:3

¹⁰ Bamidbar 8:1

¹¹ Abramson, Sh. רב נסים גאון: חמשה ספרים נפתחים [R. Nissim Gaon: Libelli Quinque]. Jerusalem, 1965

¹² Abramson, Sh. רב נסים גאון: חמשה ספרים נפתחים [R. Nissim Gaon: Libelli Quinque]. Jerusalem, 1965. A Hebrew translation of R. Nissim's book on the Laws of the Four Species is included in Peirush Rabbienu Hananel: Masekhet Sukkah (Lev Sameach)

¹³ Abramson, Sh. רב נסים גאון: חמשה ספרים נפתחים [R. Nissim Gaon: Libelli Quinque]. Jerusalem, 1965. The entire work has not survived, but numerous fragments and citations allow for a nearly complete reconstruction (at least of the Hebrew sections), although the only attempt to do so in print was Poznanski, S. ליקוטים מן ספר מגילת סתרים לרבינו נסים בר יעקב מקירואן, 1860

¹⁴ Hirschberg, H.Z. (ed.) Hibbur Yafeh mei-ha-Yeshuah. Jerusalem, 1954 (2nd ed. 1980). This publication is based off a Hebrew manuscript which was a translation of the Arabic original, which has been mostly lost.