Chananel Ben Chushiel

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Chananel Ben Chushiel

Chananel ben Chushiel or Hananel ben Hushiel was a Rabbi

Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
, talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
ist and a student of one of the last Geonim

Geonim

Geonim were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia of Sura and Pumbedita, in Babylonia, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands....
. He is best known for his commentary on the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
. Chananel is often referred to as Rabbeinu Chananel - Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
for "our teacher, Chananel".

beinu Chananel" was born in 990. Although he is strongly associated with the city of Kairouan

Kairouan

Kairouan it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuw?n, from Persian language K?rav?n, meaning "military/civilian camp" , "caravan", or "resting place" ....
, Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
, he was likely born in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. Indeed, the Tosafists

Tosafists

Tosafists were medieval rabbis known in Talmudical scholarship as Rishonim who created critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud. These were collectively called Tosafot ....
refer to him as "Ish Romi." R.

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Encyclopedia

Chananel ben Chushiel or Hananel ben Hushiel was a Rabbi

Rabbi

Talmud

Geonim

Talmud

Hebrew language

Biography

"Rabbeinu Chananel" was born in 990. Although he is strongly associated with the city of Kairouan

Kairouan

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast....
, he was likely born in Italy

Italy

Tosafists

Chushiel

Chushiel ben Elchanan was president of the bet ha-midrash at Kairwan toward the end of the 10th century. He was born probably in Italy, but his origins and travels are obscure, and his eventual arrival in Kairwan is the subject of a well-known story....
, head of the Kairouan yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
and through correspondence with Hai Gaon

Hai Gaon

Hai ben Sherira, better known as Hai Gaon, was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia Pumbedita during the early 11th century....
. He is closely associated with Nissim Ben Jacob

Nissim Ben Jacob

Nissim Ben Jacob was a rabbi and Talmudist best known today for his Talmudic commentary "HaMafteach", by which title he is also known....
in the capacity of rabbi and Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh ? meaning head, and yeshiva ? a school of religious Jewish education....
of Kairouan. His most famous student is probably Isaac Alfasi

Isaac Alfasi

Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi - also Isaac HaCohen, Alfasi or the Rif - was a Talmudist and posek . He is best known for his work of halakha, the legal code Sefer Ha-halachot, considered the first fundamental work in Halakha#Codes of Jewish law....
. Chananel was also successful in business and was said to be very wealthy. He died in 1053.

Works

Chananel wrote the first complete commentary

Close reading

In literary criticism, close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read....
on the Talmud, today embedded in the actual Talmud page on certain tractates. The commentary presents a paraphrased summary of the main arguments in the gemara

Gemara

The Gemara is the part of the Talmud that contains rabbinical commentaries and analysis of the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Judah haNasi , the work was studied exhaustively by generation after generation of rabbis in Babylonia and the Land of Israel....
, omitting most of the non-legal sections (Aggada). A distinctive feature of the commentary is the presentation of the parallel passages from the Jerusalem Talmud

Jerusalem Talmud

The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi , often the Yerushalmi for short, is a collection of rabbi notes about the Jewish Oral law as detailed in the 2nd-century Mishnah....
.

He also authored a commentary on the Torah

Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
, cited by many later Biblical commentators, chiefly Bahya ben Asher

Bahya ben Asher

Bahye ben Asher or Bahye ben Asher ben Halawa also known as the Rabbeinu Behaye, born about the middle of the thirteenth century at Saragossa, died 1340, was a 13th century rabbi and scholar of Judaism....
. This commentary is to some extent directed against the Karaites. While no full copy of this work survives, we possess many fragments of it; it has recently been published by the Mosad Ha-Rav Kook as a separate work, as well as in the Torat Hayyim Torah edition with commentaries

Mikraot Gedolot

Mikraot Gedolot , often called the "Rabbinic literature Bible" in English, is anedition of Tanakh that generally includes four distinct elements:...
.

Other works by Rabbeinu Chananel include a collection of responsa

Responsa

Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them....
, as well as "Sefer ha-Miktzo'ot," decisions

Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha for "decider"?a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....
on ritual law

Halakha

Halakha ? also Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
, both quoted by various rishonim

Rishonim

"Rishon" redirects here. For the preon model in particle physics, see Harari Rishon Model. For the Israeli town, see Rishon LeZion.Rishonim were the leading Rabbis and Posek who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and following the Geonim....
.

External links

, jewishencyclopedia.com
, jewishhistory.org
, Prof. Eliezer Segal