- Hanoch ben Moses
R. Hanoch ben Moses (Hebrew: רבנו חנוך ב"ר משה) (d. 1014 or 1024) was a Spanish
rabbi . Almost all of the information we have about him comes fromSefer ha-Qabbalah by R.Abraham ibn Daud . [Hebrew text online at [http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/vl/ravad/ravad01.pdf Daat] .]Along with his parents, R.
Moses ben Hanoch and his wife (name unknown), R. Hanoch was captured by theMoorish pirateIbn Rumahis and brought to Cordova. R. Hanoch eventually succeeded his father asRabbi andRosh Yeshivah there, although for a time he faced opposition by R.Joseph ibn Abitur and by the latter's patron, Yaakov ibn Jo, the lay leader of the Jewish community of theCaliphate of Cordoba .His best-known student was R. Shmuel ha-Nagid.
Ibn Daud reports that relations between R. Hanoch and R.
Hai Gaon were strained, since the increasing stature of the Spanishyeshivot led to a lessening of their communities' financial contributions to theTalmudic Academies in Babylonia . Indeed, R. Hanoch seems to have corresponded only rarely with the Babylonian Geonim. However, R. Hai demonstrated his respect for R. Hanoch, by honoring his excommunication of Ibn Abitur and refusing the latter an audience.R. Hanoch left no written works, although there are some extant
responsa between him and R. Hai, as well as between him and the then Gaon in theLand of Israel , R. Shmuel ha-Kohen.He died of injuries following a fall, when the
bimah in the Cordovasynagogue collapsed onSimchat Torah . Ibn Daud dates this incident to 4775 (1014), but also states that it was thirteen years before the death of R. Hai in 4798, so that the correct reading should be 4785 (1024).References
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