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 – 9??-1013
• Location – Pumbedita
• Education –
• Occupation – Av Beit Din and Gaon of Yeshivat Sura
• Family – one son and two daughters (one of whom was the wife of R. Hai Gaon)
• Teachers –
• Contemporaries – R. Sherira ben Hananiah
• Students –
• Time period – Geonic period
  • –
• World outlook –

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