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Philosophy & Social Sciences

Hai Gaon

Who

Hai Gaon · Philosophy & Social Sciences

What

Head of the Pumbedita academy and leading legal authority; his responsa engaged science, philosophy and philology across the medieval Jewish world

When

939, Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate (present-day Iraq) — 1038, Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate (present-day Iraq)

Where

Baghdad · Pumbedita

Biography

Hai Gaon is recognized among Jewish contributors to Philosophy & Social Sciences — Head of the Pumbedita academy and leading legal authority; his responsa engaged science, philosophy and philology across the medieval Jewish world

How & why

Hai ben Sherira, a Jewish rabbi and the last of the great Geonim, headed the academy of Pumbedita (then in Baghdad) and was the supreme legal authority of the Jewish world of his day. His thousands of responsa engaged law, philosophy, philology, and the sciences, and were dispatched across the Mediterranean and beyond, shaping halakha for centuries.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jewish Encyclopedia

Contributions & Sources

Head of the Pumbedita academy and leading legal authority; his responsa engaged science, philosophy and philology across the medieval Jewish world

939 CE

Source: Jewish Encyclopedia