Sahl?n ben Abraham
SAHL?N BEN ABRAHAM
SAHL?N BEN ABRAHAM (11th cent.), leader of the Iraqi community in *Cairo. Sahl?n was a member of an ancient Egyptian family which originated in the town of *Sunb??. He inherited his position from his father Abraham (Barh?n in Arabic), a spice merchant who had become the leader of the Iraqi community. Sahl?n was learned, wealthy, and had good relations with the government. He maintained a regular correspondence with the gaon*Solomon b. Judah, the head of the *Jerusalem academy, and supported the Jewish population in Palestine. In times of misfortune, the Jerusalem gaon appealed to him to intervene in favor of the scholars of the academy. However, as the community leader of the Jews of Iraqi origin, Sahl?n recognized the authority of the geonim of Iraq and was referred to by the Iraqi title of *alluf. R. *Hai Gaon, as well as the exilarch *Hezekiah b. Davidii, supported him when a controversy broke out within his community in the 1030s. He also wrote some religious poems.
bibliography:
Mann, Egypt, index; Mann, Texts, index; idem, in: Tarbiz, 5 (1934), 277–9; Chapira, in: rej, 82 (1926), 317–31; Assaf, in: Tarbiz, 9 (1936/37), 30–32; Davidson, O?ar, index; H. Schirmann, Shirim ?adashim Min ha-Genizah (1965), 75–78.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]