Solomon ben Elijah Ha-Kohen

views updated

SOLOMON BEN ELIJAH HA-KOHEN

SOLOMON BEN ELIJAH HA-KOHEN (late 11th and early 12th century), founder of an academy in *Damascus in the early 12th century. His father, the gaon*Elijah b. Solomon (d. 1083), was head of the Palestinian academy in Tyre. Elijah appointed his elder son, abiathar, as his successor and his second son, solomon, as av ("father") of the academy. However, after the dispute which broke out between the members of the academy and *David b. Daniel b. Azariah, who demanded that the Jews of Palestine and *Syria also recognize him, Abiathar was forced to escape to Tripoli in Syria. Solomon also left Tyre. It seems that he remained for some time in one of the villages of Galilee and later settled in *Ḥadrak. There he founded an academy which was considered as a continuation of the Palestinian one. He also assumed the title of gaon. A letter that he wrote in 1116, while gaon in Ḥadrak, was found in the *Genizah.

bibliography:

Mann, Egypt, index; Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 249ff.; S. Assaf (ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 2 (1944), 93–94; Braslavi, in: Eretz Israel, 5 (1958), 220f.

[Eliyahu Ashtor]