Yehudai ben Nahman

The book Halachot Pesukot, which discusses those halachot that were practiced in the diaspora since the destruction of the Second Temple, has been attributed to Gaon, although this has been disputed by scholars. The text, which is generally organized along the same pattern as the tractates of the Babylonian Talmud, was the subject of many abridgements and summaries. The original was lost for many years, and was only known in the form of a Hebrew paraphrase called ''Hilchot Re'u'' (published Versailles 1886), until it was discovered in a Yemenite manuscript purchased in 1911 and published in Jerusalem in 1951. Halachot Ketzuvot is attributed to him, in which he ruled that women should, among other things, submit silently to beatings by their husbands; no other parallel by the Babylonian gaonim has been found. However the legitimacy of this text has also been called into question; many anonymous sources from the Geonic period were attributed to Yehudai Gaon by sages from the Middle Ages because of his great standing and influence. A critical edition of this work was published by Mordecai Margalioth in 1942. ==Halachot Gedoloth controversy==

One rabbinic school of thought credits him with authorship of the Halachot Gedolot, or of the core of it, though it is generally agreed that the final form of that work is to be attributed to Simeon Kayyara. Based on anachronistic discrepancies, the Semag's opinion that it was Yehudai Gaon who composed the work Halachot Gedoloth was thought to be an error. Rabbi David Gans may have been the first to suggest that the Semag, in referring to "Rav Yehudai" as the author, was actually alluding to Yehudai Hakohen ben Ahunai, Gaon of the Sura Academy (served 4519 - 4524 of the Hebrew calendar). At all events the Halachot Pesukot was an important source for the larger work. ==References==