List of Jewish Leaders in The Land of Israel - Geonim in Exile

Geonim in Exile

• Elijah ben Solomon ha-Cohen 1062–1083 son of Shlomo ben Yosef. The occupation of Jerusalem by the Seljuks in 1071 completely destroyed the city's Jewish community. Therefore, Eliahu moved the academy to Tyre, which was subject to Fatimid rule and Shlomo Hanasi was appointed to take over leadership in Jerusalem, although he and the remaining assembly continued to be under the authority of Eliahu and his son and successor
• Abiathar ben Elijah ha-Cohen 1083–1129. His other son Shlomo, who served as Av Bet Din under Abiathar, fled in 1093 to Hadrak (near Damascus) because of the decrees of David ben Daniel, head of Egyptian Jewry and son of Daniel ben Azariah, who wished to exert his authority over all Fatimid lands. In Hadrak, Shlomo organized a second Eretz Israel Academy. Abiathar headed the Tyre academy until the conquest of the city by the crusaders. Afterward he moved to Tripoli where he died before 1130. After Solomon's reign in Hadrak, his position was given to his son
• Maẓli'aḥ, who went to Egypt in 1127 where he received the title of gaon. After his death in 1138, his position was apparently given to
• Moshe Halevy ben Netanel; however, it is possible that
• Shmuel ben Hananiah, who met Judah Halevi (1142) when he traveled from Egypt to Ereẓ Israel, was given the position. During his reign, a certain Petrus Judeaus swore allegiance to Crusader King Baldwin III in Jerusalem 1156.After Moshe Halevy, his son
• Netanel was gaon (1160–70). Meanwhile, the Hadrak Academy moved to Damascus and still existed during the 12th century when Benjamin of Tudela reported that it was subject to the rule of the Babylonian gaonate in Baghdad. The names of two geonim who were descendants of the Abiathar family, Avraham ben Matzhir and his son Ezra ben Avraham 1164?–?, are known. The latter was ordained by Shmuel ben Ali of Baghdad. After the death of Netanel, his brother
• Sar Shalom was appointed gaon at Fostat. Sar Shalom, who was perhaps of Palestinian geonic descent, sometimes called himself rosh yeshivat Ereẓ ha-Ẓevi, as if his activities were a continuation of the academies of Ereẓ Israel not only in Damascus but also in Fostat. In his time, at the end of the reign of Ezra ben Avraham in Damascus or shortly afterward the continuity of the geonim of Ereẓ Israel in Damascus was broken. It is possible that Ezra was followed by Zadok (c. 1170s), who was dismissed from his position. Later, with the death of Sar Shalom, the gaonate in Egypt, as well, ceased to exist.