Page 179 - GQ 12

52* SUMMARIES

Gaonic Responsa
in an early-11th century rotulus

Ezra Chwat

Department of Manuscripts, The National Library of Israel

The early 11th century rotuli of Abraham Ibn al-Baqara have shed scores of
fragments in the Cairo Genizah, that reflect much of the scope of Rabbinic
literature in his time. One such treasure is a rotulus of Gaonic responsa,
much of which is still extant, in Oxford Heb. A3 fol. 14.

Side A presents 76 lines of an exhaustive responsum of R. Hai Gaon
that was cited by R. Hananel and Alfasi. R. Hai deduces from the Mishnah
(Yevamot VII:1) that the husband is obligated to full compensation of the
dowry he received only in cases of a total loss of the asset, such as deceased
slaves - as is the example given in the Mishnah. This infers that he is exempt
from compensating devaluation, such as slaves who have grown old . The
Gaon is aware that this opinion will draw opposition (as in Alfasi’s critique),
yet he emphasizes that the alternative is impractical, as this would entail a
detailed assessment of all the assets in the dowry and their devaluation. This
would be particularly difficult where it is customary to assess only the total
value of the dowry in the Ketubah.

Side B includes four responsa, and the beginning of a fifth. These
appear in the same order in MS Parma 3525 fols. 9b-11a, in a series of
responsa attributed to R. Sherirah Gaon. These have been published in
previous collections of Gaonica, but Al-Baqar’s copy predates Parma by
almost 300 years. The final responsa is hitherto unknown, dealing with
additional prayers to be supplemented on days of the Ma’amadot, based on
TB Shabbat 24a.

An appendix is supplied listing the remnants of Al-Baqar’s rotuli extant
in the Genizah, with bibliography of publications.