- Chananel Ben Chushiel
Chananel ben Chushiel or Hananel ben Hushiel ( _he. חננאל בן חושיאל) was a
Rabbi ,talmud ist and a student of one of the lastGeonim . He is best known for his commentary on theTalmud . Chananel is often referred to as Rabbeinu Chananel - Hebrew for "our teacher, Chananel".Biography
"Rabbeinu Chananel" was born in 990. Although he is strongly associated with the city of
Kairouan ,Tunisia , he was likely born inItaly . Indeed, theTosafists refer to him as "Ish Romi." R. Chananel studied under his father,Chushiel , head of the Kairouanyeshiva and through correspondence withHai Gaon . He is closely associated withNissim Ben Jacob in the capacity of rabbi andRosh yeshiva of Kairouan. His most famous student is probablyIsaac Alfasi . Chananel was also successful in business and was said to be very wealthy. He died in 1053.Works
Chananel wrote the first complete commentary 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 , omitting most of the non-legal sections (Aggada ). A distinctive feature of the commentary is the presentation of the parallel passages from theJerusalem Talmud .He also authored a commentary on the
Torah , cited by many later Biblical commentators, chieflyBahya ben Asher . This commentary is to some extent directed against theKaraite s. 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"anthology .Other works by Rabbeinu Chananel include a collection of
responsa , as well as "Sefer ha-Miktzo'ot," decisions on ritual law, both quoted by variousrishonim .External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=210&letter=H&search=Hananeel Hananeel Ben Hushiel] , jewishencyclopedia.com
* [http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/900.htm#Hushiel Hananel Ben Hushiel] , jewishhistory.org
* [http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudMap/OtherComs.html#Hananel Rabbenu Hananel] , Prof. Eliezer Segal
** [http://www.easyrashi.com/TEFILLIN/upper_half.htm The view of R' Chananel where to wear Tefilin]
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