Simeon Kayyara, also spelledShimon Kiara (Hebrew:שמעון קיירא), was aJewish-Babylonianhalakhist of the first half of the 8th century.[1] Although he lived during theGeonic period, he was never officially appointed as a Gaon, and therefore does not bear the title "Gaon".
Rabbinic sources often refer to Kayyara asBahag, an abbreviation ofBa'al Halakhot Gedolot ("author of theHalakhot Gedolot"), after his most important work.
The early identification of his surname with "Qahirah," theArabic name ofCairo (founded 980), was shown bySolomon Judah Loeb Rapoport[2] to be impossible.Neubauer's suggestion[3] of its identification with Qayyar inMesopotamia is equally untenable. It is now assumed that "Kayyara" is derived from a common noun, and, like the Syro-Arabic "qayyar," originally denoted a dealer in pitch or wax.[4]
According to both medieval authorities likeGeonimSherira andHai ben Sherira, and modern scholars likeAbraham Epstein, Kayyara is the author ofHalachot Gedolot (הלכות גדולות), a work on Jewish law dating from the Geonic period. However, others have attributed the work toYehudai Gaon.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."ḲAYYARA, SIMEON".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This biographical article about arabbi from the Middle East is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
