Zemah ben Hayyim
Zemah ben Hayyim (Hebrew: צמח בן חיים), or sometimes Zemah b. Hayyim, was Gaon of Sura from 889 to 895.
| Rabbinical eras |
|---|
He was the stepbrother and successor of Nahshon ben Zadok, and has become known especially through the reply which he made to the inquiry of the Kairwanites regarding Eldad ha-Dani. This responsum, which appeared in part in the first edition of the Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah (Venice, 1480), was republished as completely as possible by A. Epstein in Vienna in his Eldad ha-Dani. It embraces nine points and concludes with an apology for Eldad's forgetfulness. According to Epstein, only one other responsum by Ẓemaḥ has been published; it is given in the Constantinople edition of the Pardes, and ends with the same words as does the first-mentioned responsum: לנטות ימין ושמאל. I.H. Weiss, however, ascribes to this gaon also the authorship of responsa in Sha'arei Tzedek (iv., No. 14) and in the compilation Ḥemdah Genuzah (Nos. 58–61, 111-131). Nothing is known of the gaon's personal career.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Joseph Jacobs; Schulim Ochser (1901–1906). "Zemah ben Hayyim". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.