SHERIRAʾ GAON (c. 906–1006), Babylonian halakhist and head of the academy at Pumbedita for some thirty years. Sheriraʾ was a major league authority whose many responsa circulated throughout the whole Jewish Diaspora. He combined his legal preeminence with a rational attitude toward Talmudic legend, thus setting the pattern that was followed by his son and successor, Hʾai.

The single most influential work by Sheriraʾ is the book-length Iggeret (Epistle), sent as a response to the community of Kairouan in North Africa. Yaʿaqov bar Nissim had asked on behalf of his co-religionists that the gaon explain how the oral law had reached its present form in the Talmud, how and when the various rabbinic works had been compiled and edited, and what was the import of the frequent disagreements among the Talmudic rabbis. This series of questions doubtless reflected the anxiety felt...