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Sar Shalom ha-Levi (Gaʾon)

بيانات التعريف

Gender
Male
Active dates
1171–1195 CE
Social role
Jewish communal official
Other names
Sar Shalom b. Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Levi
Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā

Description / Bio

Served as head of the Jews in Fustat around 1170/71 and again from around 1173–95. Bore the title gaʾon. Before this appointment he held the post of av bet din in the Palestinian yeshiva in Damascus, under his brother ʿAzarya who was gaʾon in Damascus. In Fustat, succeeded his brother Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi. Moshe Maimonides briefly replaced Sar Shalom ca. 1171 when the Ayyubids came to power and abolished the Fatimid caliphate. The events of Sar Shalom's second tenure (ca. 1173–95) are narrated in Megillat Zuṭa, a scroll authored by a supporter of Maimonides named Avraham b. Hillel, who accuses Sar Shalom and his father Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Shishi, of gaining the headship of the Jews by corrupt means.

Select bibliography

  1. Marina Rustow, "Sar Shalom ben Moses ha-Levi," in EIJW (n.p.: Brill, 2010).
Alan Elbaum, "Sar Shalom ha-Levi (Gaʾon)," available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/sar-shalom-b-moshe-ha-levi/, accessed January 25, 2025.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/sar-shalom-b-moshe-ha-levi/