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 (הכהן), רשבח"ג
  • _ name – 
• Dates – 9??-1013
• Location – Pumbedita
• Education – Unknown
• Occupation – Av Beit Din and Gaon of Sura Yeshivah
• Family – R' Hofni had one son and two daughters (one daughter was wife of Hai Gaon and the other the mother of Abu Sa’ad)
• Teachers – Unknown
• Contemporaries – Sherira ben Hananiah
• Students – Unknown
• Time period – Gaonic period
  • –
• World outlook – Mutazili

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Genesis (second half), Numbers (entire book), Deuteronomy (first half), and possibly entire Pentateuch 
• Rabbinics – 
  • Talmudic novellae – Commentaries on Tractates Yevamot, Ketubbot (first part), and Shabbat (part of first chapter), and Introduction to the Study of Mishnah and Talmud
  • Halakhic codes – Treatises (Kitabot) on Oaths; Possessions; Payment of Debts; Sales; Attainment of Legal Majority and Puberty; Gifts; Proxy; Laws of Marriage; Bills of Exchange; Divorce; Laws of Levirate Marriage; Laws of Leasing Rivers,Irrigation Canals and Wells; Obligations of Judges; Laws of Neighbors; Laws of Dowries; Support Payments; Surety and Guarantees; Laws of Acquisition; Division; Pawning; Testimony; Abutter’s Rights; Laws of Conditions; Partnerships and Limited Partnerships; Laws of Ritual Fringes; Period of Waiting to Remarry after a Woman is Widowed or Divorced; Laws of Found Objects; Bails; Use of Force (?); Concerning the Prayer Leader; Illegal Seizure; Allegations and Evidence; Deposits; Wills; Legal Guardianship; Punishments; Impure Things; Inheritances; Loans; Defects (?); Missing Persons; Wounds (?): and Obligation (?). Chapters on Slaughtering and Examination and Chapters on Forbidden Foods; Chapters on Blessings; Chapters on Testimony.
  • Responses to the works of others – None
  • Responsa – can be found in Sha’arey Zedeq, Sha’arey Teshuvah, Halakhot Pesuqot la-Geonim, Responsen (Muller), Responsa (Harkavy), Ginzei Schechter, and elsewhere
• Jewish thought – None
• Misattributed works – None

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Verse by verse / Topical – Ben Hofni’s commentary does not comment on every pasuk in the Torah. Although it is organized in order of the pasuk being commented on, the commentary is very selective in the issues it addresses
• Genre – 
• Structure – 
• Language – Hebrew
• Peshat and derash – Peshat

Methods

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

Themes

• – 

Textual Issues

• Manuscripts – 
• Printings – 
• Textual layers – 

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – Like many Gaonim, Ben Hofni was heavily influenced by Arabic culture. Thus, he displays an individualist intellectual personality, a rationalist theology and epistemology, a pronounced antipathy towards aggadah, and an intellectual openness to being wrong. He even acknowledges his own originality and innovation in a letter dated 985. At the same time, he took pains to respond to and criticize the hyper-textualism of the Karaites and to justify the authority of Hazal to determine halakha
• Teachers – 
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

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

Supercommentaries

• – Unknown