Mar Zakkai ben Ahunai ben Shahrijar (Yehudah the Blind)

Naṭronay bar Nehemiah

Naṭronay bar Nehemiah, also known as Mar Yanuqa, married into the family of the exilarch, and served as gaon of the yeshiva of Pumbedita from 719 until his death sometime before 739. His harsh treatment of the yeshiva’s students led many of them to move to the Sura academy. A few of his responsa survive, including some concerning heretical sects. While lenient in allowing the repentant followers of the false messiah Severus (Sāwīrā), also called Serenus, to return to the Rabbanite fold, Naṭronay was less welcoming of other penitents who had rejected biblical and talmudic ordinances.

Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman

Bibliography

Baron, Salo W. A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952–83), vol. 5, pp. 190-207.

Brody, Robert. The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).

Lewin, Benjamin. Epistle of Sherira Gaon (Haifa: n.p., 1921) pp. 102 ff. [Hebrew].

Moda‛i, Nissim. Teshuvot Shaʿarei Ṣedeq (Jerusalem, 1985), pp. 54–55.

Citation Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman. " Naṭronay bar Nehemiah." Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Brill Online , 2013. Reference. Jim Harlow. 28 January 2013 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-...>

Natronai ben Nehemiah (Hebrew: נטרונאי בן נחמיה) was Gaon of Pumbedita from 719 to 730; son-in-law of the exilarch Ḥasdai I. Vain of his family connections and secure in his position, he was so arrogant in his dealings with the students that many of them left the academy, returning only after his death (Letter of Sherira Gaon).

Two responsa are ascribed to him, both relating to the return of Jews who had left their community to follow heretical leaders (Sha'are Ẓedeḳ, iii. 7, 10). In one of these responsa Naṭronai decides that the followers of the pseudo-Messiah Serenus, should again be received into their community; in the other he decides against the reception of the children of certain heretic Jews who had renounced both the Talmudic and the Biblical Judaism. I.H. Weiss, however, ascribes these two responsa to Naṭronai b. Hilai. A number of responsa in the compilation Sha'are Ẓedeḳ and else where (comp. Mussafia, Teshubot ha-Ge'onim, Nos. 23, 52, 63, 83-87, 90, Lyck. 1864) bear the name of Naṭronai, but it is difficult to decide whether they are the work of Naṭronai b. Nehemiah or of some other Naṭronai.

[edit]Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

Grätz, Gesch. 2d ed., v. 164, note 14;

Weiss, Dor, iv. 116;

Winter and Wünsche, Die Jüdische Litteratur, ii. 9 et seq.;

I. Müller, Mafteaḥ, p. 64.

[edit]External links

Jewish Encyclopedia article for Natronai ben Nehemiah, by Wilhelm Bacher and S. Mendelsohn.

[edit]References

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natronai_ben_Nehemiah

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Doesn't seem to have been a nice person. Drove many of his students away. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natronai_ben_Nehemiah

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Gaon Mar Natronai ben Nechmiah beni David, as Exilarch, was considered a descendant of King Davide. "Gaon" (Ga'ON) is from Hebrew, meaning "proud one, exalted one"; in Babylonia of those days it was a title given to one who was head of a Torah academy, or (medieval) title given to a great scholar.

Mar Natronai was also called Mar Reb Natronai ben Mar Reb Nechemiah.

Mar Natronai flourished in 719 in Pumbedia, Iraq, in 719.

See "My Lines"

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p106.htm#i12938 )

from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )

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Natronai* BEN NEHEMIAH

ABT 0647 - ABT 0739

   * BIRTH: ABT 0647, Pembeditha,Babylon

   * DEATH: ABT 0739 

Father: Nehemiah* BEN HANINI

Family 1 :

   * MARRIAGE: 0686 

Family 2 : Bat Hisdai* DAVID

  1. +Haninai* BEN NATRONAI

  2. +Habibai* NATRONAI 

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Naṭronay bar Nehemiah

Naṭronay bar Nehemiah, also known as Mar Yanuqa, married into the family of the exilarch, and served as gaon of the yeshiva of Pumbedita from 719 until his death sometime before 739. His harsh treatment of the yeshiva’s students led many of them to move to the Sura academy. A few of his responsa survive, including some concerning heretical sects. While lenient in allowing the repentant followers of the false messiah Severus (Sāwīrā), also called Serenus, to return to the Rabbanite fold, Naṭronay was less welcoming of other penitents who had rejected biblical and talmudic ordinances.

Baron, Salo W. A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952–83), vol. 5, pp. 190-207.

Brody, Robert. The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).

Lewin, Benjamin. Epistle of Sherira Gaon (Haifa: n.p., 1921) pp. 102 ff. [Hebrew].

Moda‛i, Nissim. Teshuvot Shaʿarei Ṣedeq (Jerusalem, 1985), pp. 54–55.

Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman. " Naṭronay bar Nehemiah." Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Brill Online , 2012. Reference. Jim Harlow. 03 July 2012 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-...>