42 A Midrashic compilation, partly mystic in character, of the eighth century, but attributed to the Tanna R. Eliezer ben Hyrkanos the Great. 43 Collection in three "gates," relating to history, especially to Biblical chronology. Its redaction is commonly attributed to R. Jose ben Halafta (second century). 44 Sherira bar Hananiah, Gaon of Pumbedita, about 930-1000, a scholar of great activity, who left Responsa. The one bearing upon the chronology of the Talmudic and Gaonic periods is the chief source for the history of those times. 45 Hai Gaon, born about 940, collaborator, then successor, of his father. He wrote much, and his reputation reached Europe. Philosopher, scholar, didactic poet, and commentator of the Bible, he left authoritative Responsa, Talmudic commentaries, collections of rabbinical jurisprudence, and a Hebrew dictionary, which has been lost. 46 Aha or Ahai of Shabha wrote, about 760, one hundred and ninety-one <I>Sheeltot</I> (Questions), casuistic homilies, connected with the Five Books of Moses. 47 Yehudai bar Nahman, Gaon of Sura (about 759 or 762), eminent Talmudist and adversary of the Karaites. He wrote Responsa and possibly the Halakot, a collection of legal and ritual rules. He is said to have been blind. 48 Isaac Abrabanel was possibly the only Jew who unmasked Josephus and revealed his lies and flatteries. Judah Sir Leon (see chap. XI, p.194) recognized that Kalir was not identical with the Tanna Eleazar ben Simon. 49 Of Tahort, Northern Africa. He lived at the end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth. 50 See chap. VI, p.127 and Note 91. 51 Exception can scarcely be made in favor of the preamble to the Song of Songs and the shorter one to Zechariah. In the one he briefly characterizes the Haggadic method; in the other he speaks of the visions of Zechariah, which, he says, are as obscure as dreams. 52 At the end of the gloss the explanations of Menahem ben Saruk and Dunash ben Labrat are reproduced. This is without doubt a later addition. For these two Spanish grammarians, see Note 91. 58 Evidently it was not Rashi who commented on the work of Alfasi, his contemporary. It was a German Jew, who abridged the commentary of the French rabbi in order to make it harmonize with the work of the illustrious Spanish Talmudist. For several treatises the German Jew had more authentic texts than are now available. He sometimes cites Rashi by name. See J. Perles, <I>Die Berner Handschrift des kleinen Aruch,</I> in <I>Jubelschrift Graetz,</I> 1887. 54 See Note 53.